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Alleged abuse victim denies it's made up
The man who sparked a child abuse investigation into a former teacher told a court how he thought about throwing a brick through his window.
The man, in his 20s, helped police track down three other pupils from Bay House School, Gosport, who all said they were abused by now retired English and drama teacher, James Braid.
He told the court how he found himself outside Braid's house and thought about hurling a brick.
But he said: 'If I had done that I would have got done by the police so it's not going to do me any good is it?'
Sarah Jones, defending, said the man had lied about the abuse in order to make a compensation claim.
In response, he said: 'I'm not getting any benefit now, am I? That's never crossed my mind at all. I'm telling the truth, there's no motive, he abused me.'
Asked why he didn't report the allegation to the police sooner, he said: 'I felt ashamed of it and now I don't.'
Yesterday the jury at Portsmouth Crown Court also heard from the alleged victim's wife.
She said her husband had burst into tears when he told her about the alleged abuse after a family funeral.
Sobbing in the witness box, she recalled: 'He got more and more upset and I felt there was something else and then he blurted it out.
'He said he had been sexually assaulted.
'He said he had got given vodka and orange and he (Braid) used to touch him.
'He was just distraught. It was like being a little boy again, it was like going back.
'He was crying and I was just holding him tight like a child.'
Asked if she ever doubted her husband's allegations, she said: 'He's not a liar, he wouldn't lie about something like that.'
Braid, 58, denies seven charges of indecent assault, one of rape, and one other sexual offence dating from 1982 to 2002.
(Proceeding)
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Friday 10 February 2012
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