World enews: Ghislaine Maxwell juror admits to hiding sex abuse history: ‘It was an honest mistake’

The Ghislaine Maxwell juror accused of failing to disclose an incident of child sex abuse before taking part in her trial has reportedly admitted to hiding his past.

The individual, known as juror 50, told a US District Court judge on Tuesday that hiding the incident during a pre-screening process had not been akin to a lie.

Instead, the juror described his response to a pre-trial screening questionnaire as an “inadvertent mistake”, after telling the court last year that he had not been a victim of sexual abuse.

“This is one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made in my life,” juror 50 told the court, while withholding his name.

The juror, who identified himself to media as Scotty David, testified that he had been abused by a stepbrother and the stepbrother’s friend when he was nine and 10 years old but did not view himself as a “victim”.

He said that looking back on the screening question however, he should have answered “yes” to whether or not he had been abused.

“I flew through this questionnaire,” said the Maxwell juror. “This is a terrible excuse, but I really didn’t think I’d be chosen.”

Lawyers for Maxwell, who is awaiting sentencing after being convicted in December for aiding disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in his abuse of underage girls, had called for a retrial following revelations about the juror’s childhood incident.

They argue that his history of abuse could have influenced his decision to convict the former British socialite of sex trafficking and other charges, as well as influence other jurors.

In a number of media interviews after the trial in December, the juror described persuading some fellow jurors that an imperfect memory of abuse did not mean the victim was giving a false statement.

Asked why he told reporters and not the court before Maxwell’s trial, the juror said Maxwell’s victims inspired him to do: “I felt if they could be brave enough, then so can I”, as Law and Crime’s Adam Klasfeld reported. “I don’t really think about my sexual abuse, period. I don’t tell many people.”

The judge will decide whether or not 60-year-old Maxwell, who faces up to 65 years in prison but maintains her innocence, will have another retrial.

The US justice department on Monday meanwhile granted juror 50 immunity from prosecution after indicating through his lawyer that he would invoke his fifth amendment right to refuse to answer any questions or make any statements that could be used in a criminal proceeding.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.