A COURT was told yesterday (Wednesday) that a dad forced his son to perform oral sex on him while another man raped the boy.
Lewes Crown Court heard how Arthur Blackman, of Forsyte Crescent, South Norwood - who is claimed to have been friends with the dad - stands accused of historic sex offences in Crawley between January 1, 1961 and January 1, 1964.
The victim, who is now 59, told the jury he suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse from the age of about two and-a-half and described his late father as "the major perpetrator of these crimes".
He told the court his father had been a Scout leader in Crawley and that 72-year-old Blackman was also involved in Scouting in the town.
The victim, whose identity is protected, claims Blackman was also involved in two incidents of abuse.
In the first, which happened when he was about five years old, he said that his father called him downstairs and made him walk naked in front of about five men, one of whom he claims was Blackman.
He added that he recalls men putting their hands on his thigh.
In the second incident, which is said to have happened about two years later, he described how his father came into his bedroom, made him undress and led him to the bathroom where he alleged the accused was present.
"I remember my father saying 'Arthur is here," he said.
He told the court he was pulled down to have oral sex with his father and felt the arms of the accused around his ankles.
He said the pulling of his legs caused him to fall and hit his head on the bathroom sink before the accused "forced his way into me".
The witness, who cried while giving the evidence via video, told the court he bled as a result of the rape, was cleaned up with a towel, taken to the bedroom and given some money.
He said he was aware of the smell of motorbike oil and thought the person who raped him had a dark and murky tattoo on his forearm.
He claims he knew it was Blackman because he rode a bike and did not live in Crawley.
The witness said he had struggled with what happened for a long time and has been dealing with it with therapy for the last 18 months, undergoing 93 sessions to date.
But Tanya Ossack, defending, said that Blackman denies being involved in the attacks.
She said: "Can I make it clear on behalf of Arthur Blackman that I don't accept that he was there; that he didn't do anything of a sexual nature (to you).
"I am not suggesting that this (the abuse) did not happen. I am saying that it was not him."
She referred to a claim in his evidence that when he was six or seven he was introduced to a Scout master called Arthur Blackman who was a biker.
"If you knew him at the naked parade (the first incident) when you were five, why did you have to be introduced to him two years later?" she asked.
She also referred to his claim that his father had introduced him to a man and said: "This is Arthur."
She said: "I am trying to get (from) how he said 'This is Arthur' to how you are now asserting that it was Arthur Blackman.
"I am going to suggest to you that you have got the wrong man."
The jury also heard evidence from the alleged victim's wife who also cannot be named for legal reasons.
She said they married in 1981 and that it was about 20 years ago that her husband told her about the sexual abuse.
The revelation was triggered by an extreme reaction he had to an episode that occurred when her late father-in-law came to live with them when he was unwell.
Her husband had confessed to her how as a young boy he had lived in mortal fear.
She told the court: "He had said to me 'I didn't know what was being done to me. I just felt this searing pain. I thought they were going to tear me into two pieces and kill me'."
Blackman has pleaded not guilty to a count of buggery on a boy between the age of five and eight and also denies a charge of gross indecency against a boy under the age of 14.
The trial continues today (Thursday).
