A schoolgirl air cadet today told how a teenage friend killed herself after being 'raped' by their military instructor.
Air Training Corps leader Paul Nicholls, 39, is accused of having under-age sex with both girls aged 13 and 15 while running the air cadet school.
Cherrell Evans, 13, was found hanged in the bedroom of her home after Nicholls allegedly sent a text message wanting sex with both girls at the same time.
Her 15-year-old friend then went to police to tell how instructor Nicholls had sex with her at his home and in his car after ATC classes.
She said: 'Cherrell did this because of what he was doing. It's his fault she's dead and nobody else's.
'Nobody else should feel any guilt she's dead because it was him. He was there as a father figure but became something else.
'She didn't refer to it as sex . She referred to it as rape. Cherrell is gone because of him.'
The girl, who has now turned 16 but can't be identified, was heartbroken after close friend Cherrell killed herself at her home in Rhondda, South Wales.
She said: 'Personally I think either she planned it or planned to get stopped so that people would realise what was going on.
'Somebody should have done something. I wouldn't have come forward but now Cherrell is gone I've got to do this for her.
'It's what she wanted - it really is. She shouldn't have had to die for people to realise what was going on.
'She knew if she did what she did I would come forward and talk.'
Asked by defence barrister Tracy Lloyd-Nesling if she thought Cherrell had been upset about anything else, the girl said 'no'.
The teenager added: 'She talked to me about suicide the last time I saw her before she did it.
'She gave me a bracelet and told me I needed it to get me through.'
Ms Lloyd-Nesling asked the girl if she was making up the allegations as 'revenge' for what had happened to Cherrell. The girl said: 'I've not lied at all. I'm telling the truth.
'I was a 15-year-old child being raped by a man I saw as my father.'
Describing her own first experience of sex with Nicholls, she said: 'I have never been so scared before. I remember him holding me down, I remember a lot of pain.'
She said Nicholls had sex with her 'on many occasions'.
The teenager added that Nicholls was always flirting with the female cadets, 'touching girls, feeling them and stuff'.
She said he would touch their breasts, pull their bra straps and walk into the changing room when they were undressed.
'I want everyone to know the truth, I want everyone to know what he does,' she said.
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard that Nicholls had sex with the girl in his bedroom, his living room and in his car parked on a mountain road.
The court earlier heard that Nicholls sent her a text message saying he wanted to invite both the girls to have sex.
In one text he allegedly wrote: 'I know one is better than none. But now I prefer two.'
The court heard police found several text messages from Nicholls on the both girls' phones after Cherrell killed herself in December 2007.
She told officers Nicholls became was a 'father figure' to them both while grooming them for sex.
She said: 'He was there for Cherrell when she needed him to talk to her and to help her through things.
'He makes you think you have no-one and really believe it and with the situation me and Cherrell were in it wasn't hard and he makes you feel he's the only one there for you.
'Cherrell wanted to go to the police but I wasn't ready. I would do anything to protect her, but I wasn't ready to talk to you (the police).
'She started to say she couldn't live life like this.'
The schoolgirl told how ATC instructor Nicholls would change from a caring attitude into a 'horrible' person.
She said: 'When he didn't get what he wanted he was really horrible. That's why she was scared.
'She saw what he was being like with me because I wouldn't go back to him.
'We were both scared when it came to the point he wanted the two of us.'
Nicholls, of Pontygwaith, Rhondda, denies three charges of sexual activity and one charge of attempting sexual activity with a 15-year-old.
The trial continues.
Cadet Cherrell Evans, 13, commits suicide after being raped by 39-yr-old instructor
Cherrell Evans
Paul Nicholls
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