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Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Prince Andrew's lawyers are seeking to halt a sexual assault lawsuit in the United States because, they say, the accuser lives in Australia and out of U.S. jurisdiction. Accuser Virginia Guiffre pressed charges against the British royal for allegedly assaulting her in London, New York and the Caribbean when she was a teenager. Prince Andrew, 61, has denied the charges.
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On Tuesday, defense lawyer Andrew Brettler filed documents in the New York stating that the trial should be halted until the matter of jurisdiction is resolved.
His filing says that Guiffre, 38, has claimed residency in the state of Colorado even though she's lived in Australia for almost two decades.
"It is undisputed that at the time she filed this action Ms. Giuffre had an Australian driver's license and was living in a ... home in Perth, Western Australia, where she and her husband have been raising their three children," Brettler wrote, according to The Guardian.
Earlier this month, Brettler argued that some of the alleged offenses happened outside of the jurisdiction of the New York Child Victims Act, which allows a 12-month window for accusers to file suits seeking compensation for sex abuse when they were children.
Guiffre claims she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17, and a minor under the law.
