Prince Andrew asks legal team to 'cancel Christmas plans' in run-up to his court hearing

Britain's Prince Andrew has reportedly asked his legal team in the United States to "cancel Christmas plans" and focus on a crucial court appearance in his sexual assault case. The Duke of York has told his legal team to leave no stone unturned in the run-up to the January 4 hearing. The forthcoming hearing has been characterised as his "last effort" to get the claims of sexual assault against him dismissed, Mirror reported on Wednesday.

According to royal sources, Andrew is "completely exhausted" by the legal battle and has been staying up late to communicate with his California-based lawyers. They are scheduled to deliver their last submissions to the New York court next Monday, December 13. Last month, Andrew Brettler, the prince's lead lawyer, highlighted a number of legal and constitutional concerns with the case, claiming that his client "never sexually abused or assaulted" the complainant - Virginia Giuffre. Brettler also stated that Giuffre has filed this frivolous case against Prince Andrew in order to get a "payday" at the Duke's expense and those closest to him.

Duke of York has been charged with 'first-degree rape'

Andrew is being pursued by Giuffre in civil court. The Prince has been charged with "first-degree rape" after allegations that he forced Giuffre to get intimate with him in 2001 when she was being trafficked across the world by the royal's late paedophile associate Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew's attorneys have repeatedly stated that the Prince "unequivocally" dismisses Giuffre's "false" charges. They also argue that a 2009 settlement agreement between Giuffre and late sex trafficker Epstein absolves the Prince from responsibility, a notion that Giuffre's lawyers have denied repeatedly, The Guardian reported. 

It is significant to mention here that a former associate of Epstein recently claimed that he witnessed Prince Andrew being intimate with Virginia Giuffre on the Caribbean island owned. Steve Scully, whom Epstein had employed as a technician, claimed the island belonged to the latter's financer. Between 2001 and 2004, Scully claimed to have seen Prince Andrew with a "bikini-clad blonde" near a swimming pool on Little St James in the Caribbean, according to a report by The Times. Prince Andrew, on the other hand, has constantly refuted all charges against him.

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