A 16 year old girl who claims she and a friend were sexually abused as schoolgirls, yesterday declined to say if she stole from her alleged attacker.
The girl told Belfast Crown Court she first met Mr Dennis McKinney (53) in August 1993.
Judge John McKee told the teenager "You can avoid answering a question if it indicates that you have committed an offence."
Moments later, when asked if Mr McKinney had asked her to "change notes, money, for him," the girl replied. "I don't want to answer that question. The judge said I don't have to answer anything I don't want to."
The teenager, who claims Mr McKinney indecently assaulted her and her friend on several occasions and once attempted to have sex with her, could not say why she kept returning to his then home. When pressed, the girl said. "I don't know".
She denied she had invented the allegations because she thought she was going to get into trouble with the police and wanted to divert matters away from herself.
Mr McKinney, whose address is now given as University Avenue, Belfast, denies indecently assaulting the girl between August and October 1993 and attempting to have unlawful sexual intercourse with her on October 7th, 1993 and indecently assaulting her friend on the same date.
The trial continues.