A New York judge has set a January 4 hearing during which lawyers for Prince Andrew of Great Britain, accused of sexual assault by an American, will plead for the dismissal of the proceedings.
“The Court will hear arguments on the accused's request to dismiss the complaint on January 4, 2022 at 10 am,”
said magistrate Lewis Kaplan.
Read also Prince Andrew, outcast of the British royal family
The Duke of York has been in turmoil since the August 2021 filing in Manhattan Federal Court of the complaint by 38-year-old American Virginia Giuffre accusing Queen Elizabeth II's second son of
"sexual assault"
when she was a minor over 20 years ago.
In her complaint, Virginia Giuffre accuses Prince Andrew of being
"one of the powerful men"
to whom she was
"handed over for sexual purposes"
when she was, she claims, the victim between 2000 and 2002 , from the age of 16, of the vast sex trafficking for which the sulphurous financier Jeffrey Epstein was accused and imprisoned.
The latter committed suicide in a Manhattan prison in the summer of 2019.
Read alsoSex crimes: the secret worlds of Jeffrey Epstein
Prince Andrew, 61, denies the charges and called on US justice to dismiss the complaint, saying it was
"without merit"
and that Virginia Giuffre was seeking to profit financially from the case.
A civil trial - if the prince's request is rejected - should be held
“between September and December next year
,
”
Judge Kaplan said on Wednesday.
