A former Olympic showjumping coach raped and sexually abused a teenage girl over a seven-year period, a court has heard.
John Sillett, 55, faces three charges of rape, four counts of assault by penetration and two sexual assaults. The alleged assaults against the same girl started when she was aged between 12 and 13, Winchester crown court was told by a prosecutor.
Sillett, of Farley Hill, Wokingham, trained riders for the 2016 Rio Olympics and was based at the Wellington Riding Centre on the Duke of Wellington’s estate in Hook, Hampshire. He denies the charges.
Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, said the alleged attacks began with Sillett groping the girl, before he raped and sexually assaulted her on several other occasions.
She said that after the first alleged assault, the alleged victim confronted Sillett. Maylin added: “His response to that little girl was ‘I am sorry, do not tell anyone’. She didn’t and life moved on.”
The alleged victim said in a video interview, which was shown to the court: “I was so scared, I didn’t want to move, I didn’t know what to do.”
The prosecutor said that on another occasion: “Mr Sillett started to touch her, he took off her dressing gown, he touched her chest. He told her: ‘You know what you want, you know you want this’. She said: ‘No’ and ‘Why are you doing this to me?’. He took off his own underwear and then he raped her. No protection was used.”
The alleged victim said in the video interview: “He just started touching me. I was so confused at what was going on: ‘Why are you doing this to me, what have I done that you think you can do this to me?’ He just took it further.”
The trial continues.
