Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Butler drove accuser from school to Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, court hears

A woman accusing Ghislaine Maxwell of grooming her as a 14-year-old was allegedly picked up from school and driven to Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion.

This courtroom sketch shows Ghislaine maxwell during her trial on charges of sex trafficking, in New York City, on December 1, 2021. Picture: Jane Rosenberg / AFP

A woman accusing Ghislaine Maxwell of grooming her as a 14-year-old was allegedly picked up from school and driven directly to the Palm Beach mansion of Jeffrey Epstein, according to his former housekeeper.

Juan Patricio Alessi told a New York court that Ms Maxwell’s accuser, identified as “Jane”, first visited with her mother in 1994 before she began coming alone.

He said Epstein’s Australian accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has a separate civil lawsuit against Ms Maxwell, was also chauffeured from her home to Epstein’s beach house, where she worked as a spa attendant.

When Ms Giuffre brought a boyfriend in the house on one occasion, he said Ms Maxwell told the man to leave and wait in the car.

Ms Giuffre was a frequent visitor to the property and also travelled with Ms Maxwell and Epstein on his private jet. He said she looked young, had long blonde hair and “a long white uniform, like the nurses.”

Once Mr Alessi had dropped them off at the house, it was “not my job to see where they were,” he told the court.

In Friday’s testimony, Mr Alessi said he never heard anyone scream in distress or look afraid, and that he would have done something to stop it if he had.

Under cross-examination by Ms Maxwell’s defence lawyers on Friday, Mr Alessi admitted to breaking into Epstein’s home and stealing $6,300 in 2004, about two years after he stopped working for the convicted paedophile.

The jury was shown a video inside the Palm Beach mansion taken in 2005 that showed photos of Epstein with Pope John Paul, and another with Fidel Castro.

Pictures that weren’t always in the mansion, however, were those of Ms Maxwell herself. Mr Alessi testified that he was told to remove pictures of Ms Maxwell when other women visited the home

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to the charges of grooming and trafficking underage girls, and her lawyers insist she is a scapegoat for Epstein, whose 2019 death in prison while awaiting trial was ruled a suicide.

Ghislaine maxwell during her trial on charges of sex trafficking. Picture: AFP.