Man to face court on Jersey home abuse charges

A man is to appear before Jersey Magistrates Court today charged with sexually assaulting boys at the former children’s home Haut de la Garenne.

Michael Aubin is facing two counts of indecent assault on boys and one count of buggery on a boy, all between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1980.

The case against the 45-year-old, who was born in Jersey but now lives in Southampton in England, is expected to be committed to the Jersey Royal Court.

Aubin is one of two people charged in connection with abuse at Haut de la Garenne and one other person has been charged as part of a wider investigation on the island.

Gordon Claude Wateridge (aged 76), originally from Croydon, south London, is charged with three offences of indecent assault on girls under 16 between 1969 and 1979 while he was warder at the home.

Claude Donnelly (aged 68), of St Brelade, is charged with raping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl on Jersey between 1971 and 1974.

Donnelly is not connected to Haut de la Garenne.

The inquiry on Jersey is one of Britain’s biggest ever abuse investigations with more than 100 people claiming they were attacked.

Police have excavated four secret underground chambers at the home, referred to as punishment rooms by some victims, and have found shackles, a large blood-stained bath at least 30 charred human bone fragments.

Forensic teams have also discovered 52 children’s teeth and police said tests on the teeth revealed that most were “very unlikely to have come out naturally before death”.

Of the bone fragments unearthed, tests have found that some were cut while others were burnt, indicating that homicide had taken place, with the victims’ bodies possibly cremated in a fireplace.

The inquiry at Haut de la Garenne started in February after the discovery of what was initially believed to be part of a child’s skull but was later thought to be wood or part of a coconut.

Following the find, scores of people came forward claiming they were abused at the home and claiming they were drugged, raped and beaten.

Police said there are more than 40 suspects.