Section:GDN 1N PaGe:5 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 20:43 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
Results day 5
Universities lose allure
for A-level students
Page 9Big bird
Fossil penguin would
tower over emperors
Page 16Oliver Milman
Victoria Bekiempis New YorkA woman who has accused Jeff rey
Epstein of sexual assault fi led a lawsuit
yesterday against the US fi nancier’s
former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell ,
Epstein’s estate, and three unnamed
staff members who worked for the late
billionaire in New York.
Jennifer Araoz fi led her lawsuit in
a New York state court in Manhattan.
She had said in an interview on NBC
last month that she had been recruited
outside her New York City school to
spend time with Epstein, and eventu-
ally give him massages, when she was- Araoz, now 32 , said she was raped
by Epstein in 2002.
A number of women have accused
Maxwell, the 57-year-old daughter of
the late press baron Robert Maxwell,
of enabling Epstein’s sex traffi cking
ring by either recruiting them directly
or scheduling visits to Epstein’s home.
A series of accusations were con-
tained in more than 2,000 pages of
court documents unsealed last week
in connection to a civil case that one
of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuff re ,
fi led against Maxwell in 2015.
Giuff re accused Maxwell of recruit-
ing her to work as Epstein’s masseuse
at 15, when the teenager was a locker-
room attendant at Donald Trump’s
Mar-a-Lago club in south Florida.
When Maxwell accused her of being a
liar, Giuff re brought a defamation suit,
which was settled shortly before trial
in 2017. Maxwell has repeatedly and
vehemently denied involvement in a
sex traffi cking network run by Epstein,
who was awaiting trial in a New York
prison when he apparently killed him-
self on Saturday.
The three other unnamed individ-
uals in Araoz’s lawsuit include people
who allegedly worked for him and
another “recruiter”. In a statementyesterday, Araoz said: “Many of you
know some of the details of my story.
The legal complaint we have fi led
today speaks to that in more detail.”
The lawsuit was “my fi rst step towards
reclaiming my power”.
“Je ff rey Epstein and his enablers
stole from me, they robbed me of my
youth, my identity, my innocence and
my self-worth. While I am angry that
Mr Epstein’s death means that he will
never personally answer to me in thecourt of law, my resolve to pursue jus-
tice has only strengthened. ”
Araoz’s case was not mentioned
in the sex traffi cking indictment fi led
against Epstein last month but her
attorneys told NBC News that she
ha d since cooperated with the FBI
and federal prosecutors as part of their
investigation of Epstein.
The lawsuit is one of the first
under New York’s new Child Victims
Act, which enables victims of child
sex abuse to bring civil cases against
alleged abusers for the next year,
regardless of when the abuse took
place. Victims will then have until the
age of 55 to fi le civil suits.
While Araoz’s lawsuit states that she
never met Maxwell , it alleges that she
“conspired with Epstein in the imple-
mentation and maintenance of his
criminal enterprise which, in turn,
victimized Ms Araoz ”.
It alleges Maxwell hired “recruit-
ers”, scheduled appointments with
Epstein and intimidated potential wit-
nesses. After Epstein’s death, accusers
sought reassurances that investiga-
tions would continue into others who
might have been involved in a traffi ck-
ing ring that targeted young girls for
sexual abuse. Maxwell’s lawyer did
not immediately respond to a request
for comment yesterdayEdinburgh street theatre Visitors to the Edinburgh festival walk past performers promoting
a show called Up and Away on the Royal Mile. The show, on the Fringe, is a drama set in rural
Wisconsin about an aspiring YouTube star, Madison McDoogle, who attempts to rise
out of poverty and isolation but is threatened by drug abuse and addiction.PHOTOGRAPH: SALLY
ANDERSON/ALAMYFamily of boy
killed after row
with friends to
appeal against
‘lenient’ terms
Josh Halliday
North of England correspondentThe family of a 17-year-old boy who
was fatally stabbed have appealed to
the attorney general to increase the
“unduly lenient” sentences handed to
two boys in connection with his death.
Yousef Makki, 17, died from a single
stab wound to the heart following an
argument with a friend, known as
Boy A, in an upmarket part of Greater
Manchester on 2 March.
Boy A, 17, admitted stabbing Makki
but said he acted in self-defence and
denied murder. He was found not
guilty of murder and manslaughter
after a trial at Manchester crown court.
The teenager was sentenced to a
16-month detention training order
after admitting perverting the course
of justice and possession of a bladed
article. He will spend half of that sen-
tence in custody.
A second 17-year-old, Boy B, was
sentenced to a four-month detention
training order after he pleaded guilty
to carrying a knife in an incident earlier
that day. He too will spend half of that
sentence in custody, and the remain-
ing half under the supervision of youth
off ending teams in the community.
Sentencing the boys in July, the
judge, Mr Justice Simon Bryan QC,
described knife crime as a “cancer on
society” and condemned a “warped
culture where possession of knives is
deemed to be cool and aesthetically
pleasing”.
Makki’s sister Jade Akoum said yes-
terday the sentences “do not send the
right message to society” and that they
must be raised. “Knife crime is at its
highest at the moment and we need
tougher sentencing,” she said.
The family has written to the attor-
ney general, Geoff rey Cox , to ask him
to refer the sentences for review to the
court of appeal. In a seven-page letter ,
seen by the Guardian, Makki’s family
says the judge “allowed far too much
credit” for Boy A’s age, his previous
good character and his personal mit-
igation, and that the sentence should
have refl ected that “the knife was pro-
duced and used with fatal eff ect”.
It says the sentences handed to
both Boy A and Boy B were “unduly
lenient” and add s: “Public concern at
the increase in knife crime must be
refl ected in the sentences imposed.”
The trial heard how Makki had died
after a row with his friends, Boy A and
Boy B. Boy A told the jury he had pulled
out a fl ick-knife because Makki had
produced a knife – a claim denied by
the victim’s family – and Boy A said
he had then accidentally stabbed his
friend in self-defence.▲ Jeff rey Epstein and Ghislaine
Maxwell in New York City in 2005Alleged victim of Epstein names
Ghislaine Maxwell in lawsuit
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