Prince Andrew to give evidence under oath next month as part of civil sex assault case
5 February 2022, 17:47
Prince Andrew is set to give evidence under oath next month as part of the civil sex assault case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre.
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He will face what is known as a deposition on March 10 in London, in what has been described as a neutral location, according to the Telegraph.
The paper said it will be conducted by Ms Giuffre's lawyers, David Boies and Sigrid McCawley, and is expected to last two days.
Mr Boies has previously said his client and legal team were anticipating "confronting" Andrew about his "denials and attempts to blame Ms Giuffre for her own abuse at his deposition and at trial".
Meanwhile, a source close to the royal claimed to the Telegraph that his accuser - Ms Giuffre - had not yet committed to a date or location for her deposition "despite repeated requests".
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Ms Giuffre is suing the duke for damages in her home country of the US, claiming she was trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein - Andrew's friend and a convicted sex offender - to have sex with the royal when she was 17, a minor under US law, at Ghislaine Maxwell's London home in the early 2000s.
The duke is also alleged to have sexually abused Ms Giuffre during a visit to Epstein's private island, Little St James, and on a separate occasion at the financier's Manhattan mansion.
Andrew has strenuously denied all allegations.
It comes after court documents revealed in January that a US Judge had written letters to the Senior Master of the Queen's Bench Division in the UK to request assistance in receiving evidence for the civil claim filed by Ms Giuffre.
The judge asked for Andrew's former assistant, Robert Olney, to be quizzed on topics such as Andrew's communications with Maxwell, Epstein and Ms Giuffre, and his travel to Epstein's homes.
In a separate letter to the High Court, Judge Kaplan also requested testimony from Shukri Walker - who claims to have seen Andrew in Tramp nightclub - on questions about the presence of the duke and Ms Giuffre at the club in March 2001 and any interactions the pair had.
The civil sex assault trial is scheduled to take place between September and December.
The parties will need to confirm by July 28 whether they wish to proceed to trial.
