By: Brian McNeigh
Women who claim that they were sexually abused by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shared their stories Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom. On August 10th, Epstein took his own life while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in the lower Manhattan.
NBC News reported that Courtney Wild said she had been sexually abused by Epstein for years.
His suicide “robbed” victims of the chance “to confront him one by one” in court, said Wild, the first accuser to speak at the hearing. “For that, he is a coward.”
Another woman said Epstein was “strategic in how he approached us.”
“Each of us has a different story and different circumstances as to why we stayed in it,” the woman, identified in court only as Jane Doe 2, said. “It was like the analogy where the frog is in the pot and the heat goes up over time.”
Close to 30 women are expected to speak at the hearing, according to NBC News.
In a related development, super model Naomi Campbell says that while she knew and spent time with Jeffrey Epstein, she never knew about what she calls his “indefensible” crimes.
Campbell has taken to YouTube to state her case. In a mock-interview, she says: “What [Epstein] has done is indefensible, and when I heard it sickened me to my stomach just like everybody else. I’ve had my fair share of sexual predators and thank God I had good people around who protected me from this,” she added. “I stand with the victims. They are scarred for life.”
The convicted molester “was always front-and-center at the Victoria’s Secret shows,” she said. “I find it extraordinary that of all the hundreds of thousands of people that I’ve stood next to to take pictures with at a public event they’ve only chosen these few.”
Campbell added that “it’s going to be very difficult to be photographed at public events because you’re going to be thinking, ‘If you do take a picture, it’s going to be taken out of context and used in a negative way.’”
She isn’t the only one distancing herself from Epstein. Prince Andrew recently said in a statement obtained by Fox News that he met Epstein 20 years ago, claiming “[at] no stage during the limited time I spent with him did I see, witness or suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.” “However, the son of Queen Elizabeth admits that he made a “mistake and an error” to see Epstein in 2010 after the former financier was convicted for soliciting prostitution from a minor,” Fox reported.
The web site also noted that “One of Epstein’s accusers has said the financier “lent” her to Andrew for sex on multiple occasions when she was 17. The New York Times notes that the statement was released in Andrew’s name, and not under the auspices of Buckingham Palace. A palace rep says that Andrew’s 2010 meeting with Epstein was the only one that took place after his prison term, though the Times notes that at around that time Epstein arranged for $18,000 to settle debts of Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. Says the royal: “(Epstein’s) suicide has left many unanswered questions and I acknowledge and sympathize with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure.”
