Daily Mail, Monday, August 12, 2019 Page 11
QQQLOWED TO DIE?
Victims’ fury
at ‘cowardly’
suicide of
tormentor
VICTIMS of Jeffrey Epstein’s
alleged sex trafficking ring said
last night that his ‘cowardly’ sui-
cide in prison meant they would
never see him face justice.
Virginia Roberts, who claimed to
be the billionaire’s teenage sex slave,
said: ‘We worked so hard to get
here... he stole that from us, too.’
Her lawyer said his suicide was ‘cow-
ardly and shameful’ and that ‘the reck-
oning of accountability’ should not end
with his death.
The tycoon died at 66 in a New York
prison on Saturday morning while
awaiting trial over claims he created a
‘vast network’ of underage girls whom
he abused between 2002 and 2005.
The death of Epstein, who denied two
counts of sex trafficking, came hours
after a dossier of court documents
detailing allegations against him and
certain associates were made public.
Other alleged victims to complain
that he had taken the easy way out
included Jennifer Araoz, who accused
Epstein of raping her when she was 15,
and Alicia Arden, a model who accused
him of sexually assaulting her after
purporting to be a talent scout for the
lingerie firm Victoria’s Secret.
Miss Roberts, now known as Virginia
Giuffre, told The New York Times she
was angry that he would not have to
answer for his crimes.
Her lawyer Sigrid McCawley said:
‘The reckoning of accountability begun
by the voices of brave and truthful vic-
tims should not end with Epstein’s
cowardly and shameful suicide.’
She added that the fact that Epstein
had taken his life so soon after the
unsealing of court documents was
‘no coincidence’, adding: ‘We are hope-
ful that the government will continue
to investigate.
‘The victims await the true justice
they have sought and deserve.’
Miss Roberts said in depositions in
the new documents that she was kept
as a sex slave with the assistance of
Briton Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s
long-time confidante.
Miss Maxwell, in another deposition
in the case, called the accusations ‘anabsolute lie’. Miss Araoz said Epstein’s
death would do little to heal the deep
scars left by his actions.
She added: ‘I am angry Jeffrey Epstein
won’t have to face survivors of his
abuse in court.
‘Epstein is gone, but justice must still
be served. I hope the authorities will
pursue and prosecute his accomplices
and enablers.’
Miss Arden, who filed a police report
against Epstein in 1997, said: ‘Jeffrey
Epstein took himself out because he
was too much of a coward to face jus-
tice and his accusers.’
Lisa Bloom, a lawyer who represents
several women who have made accusa-
tions against Epstein, shared a mes-
sage from an unnamed client.
It said: ‘I will never have a sense of
closure now. I’m angry as hell that the
prison could have allowed this to hap-
pen and that I and his other victimswill never see him face the conse-
quences for his horrendous actions.’
A manuscript of memoirs by Miss
Roberts was among the 2,000 legal doc-
uments released, and includes three
alleged sexual encounters with Prince
Andrew, a former friend of Epstein.
Another of Epstein’s alleged sex
slaves, Johanna Sjoberg, described how
Prince Andrew touched her breast in
2001 when she was 21, while Epstein
and Miss Maxwell put the hand of
Andrew’s Spitting Image puppet on
Miss Roberts’ breast.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman
said: ‘This relates to proceedings in the
United States, to which the Duke of
York is not a party. Any suggestion of
impropriety with underage minors is
categorically untrue.’
The Palace has also denied that the
prince had any sexual relations with
Miss Roberts.By Jemma Buckley
Crime CorrespondentClaims: Johanna Sjoberg implicated Prince AndrewAngry: Jennifer Araoz said she was raped Accusations: Virginia Roberts and Alicia Arden wanted Epstein jailedV