The former husband of Katie Price told a teenager after allegedly raping her that she should “take it to the grave”, a court has heard.
Kieran Hayler, 39, is on trial at Lewes Crown Court accused of three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in West Sussex in 2016, all of which he denies.
The complainant, who was 13 at the time of the alleged offences, wept during a police interview shown to jurors when she admitted lying to her mum about what happened because she “didn’t want her to think I was disgusting”.
She said: “I thought it was my fault for ages,” adding that she told her mum Hayler had touched her but not that it was sex as she feared that “maybe I’d led him on”.
The complainant told police that Hayler had called her two or three years after the alleged incidents had taken place.
She said: “He said something like ‘you promise you won’t tell anyone? What we had was special – you better take it to the grave’, and that it might get me into trouble.”
The complainant recalled him saying it might end badly for her, but that she had not felt frightened of him.
Asked by police how she felt following the three alleged rapes she said: “At the time I thought he really cares about me so he’s not doing something horrible… because of the way he described it, he said it was a good thing.”
The complainant remembered having “four showers a day after that” and said her mum recalled her “always washing” and changing her underwear “several times” a day.
She said: “I definitely remember thinking he’s a lot older than me, is this something he should be doing?
“I remember crying and wondering if it should have been happening.”
After the jury was shown the video of the police interview, the alleged victim gave evidence in person in court from behind a screen.
She was asked if she remembered anything else, and, speaking about the third incident, the complainant said Hayler had messaged her saying, “I love you, goodnight”.
“I replied, ‘I love you too’,” she added.
In 2021, the complainant contacted the NSPCC charity which referred her to the police, prompting the investigation.
Hayler was first interviewed by police in January 2022 and denied any of the allegations took place and that anything sexual occurred.
He was married to media personality Price at the time of the alleged incidents, before the couple’s relationship broke down in 2018 and they divorced in 2021.
Hayler suggested his ex-wife had “launched a campaign” against him when their marriage ended, and the allegations form part of this, the court heard.
The alleged victim is not part of Hayler or Price’s extended families.
Price is expected to be a witness in the trial which is expected to last about a week.
The trial continues.
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