A FORMER RUC detective accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the late 1980s has gone on trial.
Albert Burns, who is 91 and from Carnmoney Road in Newtownabbey, has been accused of - and has denied - seven counts of indecent assault against a child.
The pensioner has been excused from attending the trial ‘to determine the facts’ due to ill health.
Prior to a Crown barrister opening the prosecution’s case, Judge Gordon Kerr KC addressed the jury and said: “Mr Burns is an elderly gentleman who has medically been assessed and has dementia to such a degree that he is not capable of attending or understanding the trial process.”
“You are not asked to decide whether someone is guilty or not guilty of criminal offences.
“What you are asked to do, due to the medical condition of the defendant, is to listen to the evidence ... and then decide whether the person concerned did the acts alleged by the prosecution or did not do the acts alleged by the prosecution.”
Following this, a Crown barrister told the jury at Belfast Crown Court that Burns - a former CID officer in the RUC - has been charged with seven counts of indecently assaulting the complainant on dates between January 3, 1987 and January 4, 1989. At the time of the alleged offences, the complainant was aged between 13 and 15.
The alleged abuse, the court heard, occurred in the bedroom and bathroom of the complainant’s Co Antrim home over a two-year period.
He recalled that on one occasion he almost scalded himself on a radiator which was beside his bed trying to evade Burns whilst on another occasion he was abused whilst taking a shower.
The Crown barrister said the complainant didn’t disclose what was happening to him at the time for two reasons - firstly that Burns told the then teenager that no-one would believe him and secondly that he was afraid of Burns.
She added that he subsequently told both his wife and a friend then he reported the matter to the PSNI in 2019. As a result of the complainant’s allegations, Burns was interviewed by the PSNI in July 2020.
Telling the jury that Burns was “not unfit then”, the prosecutor said he denied the claims made by the complainant which he branded as a ‘bundle of lies’ and ‘made up.’