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Prince Andrew’s Lawyers Seek to Question Sexual Abuse Victim Virginia Giuffre’s Husband and Psychologist

Prince Andrew‘s lawyers are petitioning to interrogate his accuser Virginia Giuffre’s husband and psychologist in relation to the lawsuit that she filed against the Duke of York alleging sexual abuse.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The step comes after Andrew’s plea to dismiss Giuffre’s suit was rejected by a US court, on Tuesday. Andrew’s lawyers thus have submitted documents, according to which, they want to question Robert Giuffre and Dr Judith Lightfoot. Giuffre’s legal team, on the other hand, has sought to speak to the Prince’s former assistant.

Giuffre, one of the accusers of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sued Prince Andrew in 2021 on the grounds that he had forced her to have sexual intercourse with him. She sued Andrew under the Child Victims Act, a New York state law that allows child sexual abuse victims to “pursue claims against their abusers, even if the abuse occurred decades earlier.”

Andrew not only denied Giuffre’s claims, but also called her grounds “legally insufficient,” and relied on a 2009 agreement between Giuffre and Epstein that settled a different lawsuit.

However, the settlement, which was revealed earlier this month, neither explicitly mentioned his name, nor guaranteed him immunity from any liability. Giuffre’s complaint did not mention the settlement either. In fact, Giuffre’s attorney had issued a statement, after the settlement was made public, and said that it was “irrelevant” to her claim against Andrew.

Judge Lewis A Kaplan of the US Disctrict Court of New York also noted during the hearing of Andrew’s petition that his immunity under the settlement in question, was ambiguous and therefore, dismissal of Giuffre’s lawsuit on the same grounds was not justified.

In the light of the aforementioned events, Andrew’s legal team has sought to question Robert Giuffre about their household finances and how he met his wife around 2002, according to the BBC report.

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In addition to this, the team is keen on establishing that Giuffre “may suffer from false memories”, and also wants to examine Dr Lightfoot about the “theory of false memories”.

As the case continues to turn against Andrew, strengthened by the recent conviction of Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell for trafficking and sexually abusing underage girls, including Giuffre, the Buckingham Palace, on Wednesday, stripped him of his military duties and royal patronages.

In a statement, the UK royal family announced that Andrew will continue to not undertake any public duties and will defend himself in Virginia Giuffre’s case as a private citizen.