UNITED KINGDOM
Barry and District News
A “RESPECTED and trusted” church elder has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing children and women in the Jehovah’s Witness community over a 10 year period beginning in 1985.
Mark Sewell, 53, of Porthkerry Road, Barry denies 12 charges including indecent assaults against girls under the age of 14, indecent assaults against a girl aged under 16 and a single charge of rape against a woman in 1990.
The jury at Merthyr Crown Court heard from prosecutor Sarah Waters that Sewell was a predator who had used his standing in the community to target girls and women for his sexual gratification.
On the opening day of the trial the court heard how Sewell had been accused of a string of offences against young girls and a charge of rape, following which the alleged victim became pregnant, before miscarrying.
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