A LOCHGELLY man has denied raping a five-year-old girl while she was in his care.

Ian Brown, 35, of Dundas Street, is being tried by a jury at the High Court in Livingston.

The prosecution alleges that he sexually abused the youngster at an address in Cardenden, between 1 January and 6 October 2019, both before and after her sixth birthday.

In addition to two rape allegations, he is charged with removing the youngster's lower clothing, kissing and licking her private parts and inducing her to masturbate him.

Brown has pleaded not guilty to the wide ranging charge, brought under Sections 18 and 19 of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.

A video recording of a joint investigative interview of the child recorded on October 10, 2019 was played in court as the trial began on Tuesday.

In it, the youngster described the accused carrying out a sexual act on her.

She also told how he said she was not to tell anybody or phone the police.

She said: “Bad to phone the police. Really, really, really bad."

She said the sexual assault happened when she was lying on a bed in the home of Brown's girlfriend.

The girl said that Brown had asked her to touch his penis and "keeps saying to do it".

The court heard that other evidence will include a video and audio recording extracted from a mobile phone owned by the girl’s mother, a pair of leggings belonging to the child recovered from laundry and a sex toy belonging to the accused’s girlfriend.

The jury was also told a DNA sample had been taken from the girl and that a doctor’s report saying the youngster’s reaction to a medical examination had “raised significant concerns that she’d experienced sexual abuse”.

The trial, before Lady Haldane, continues.