A TEENAGE girl this week told a jury how she was sexually abused ‘almost daily’ for six years – by her own half-brother.

The 19-year-old, who we cannot name for legal reasons, yesterday (Wednesday) spoke via video link at Bristol Crown Court to relive years of alleged assaults at the hands of her older sibling.

She claims the abuse began in 1997 when she was just five years old, and her half-brother was only 14.

The brother, who is now aged 27 and also cannot be named, denies 16 charges of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape, all alleged to have taken place at the family’s central Weston home.

Prosecutor Robert Duvall said: “The abuse began when she was four or five. It took place in a number of rooms in the house, principally in her bedroom or his bedroom, but also in the bathroom, in the sitting room and in the parental bedroom.

“They occurred frequently, on a regular basis, until (she) was about ten years old and the defendant was about 18.

“On occasions he would remove her clothes and on other occasions he would get her to remove his.

“It is not difficult to see why this young girl did not report her abuse to others at the time it took place and why she might struggle to disclose it thereafter.”

In giving evidence, the girl revealed how the abuse began when the family put up tents in their garden.

She was left to share a tent with the brother she trusted – and says he took advantage of that trust by assaulting her.

The teenager the court: “I was scared and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t run to my parents because I wasn’t the sort of child who would’ve shouted out if something happened.

“I was very confused by what was happening. I didn’t know what was going on. I thought he was just my brother.”

She says abuse escalated in frequency and severity, culminating in an attempted rape after he showed her a pornographic film.

However, she told the older boy he was hurting her and warned she would shout out for help.

She said: “At the end it happened so regularly I had sort of come to live with it as part of my life.

“I’d had enough, I just wanted him to stop. So I told him I wouldn’t let him do it.”

The trial continues.