Prince Andrew lawyer seeks to halt US case as accuser ?lives in Australia?

Prince Andrew's lawyer has called for the US civil case against the royal over alleged sexual assault to be stopped because his accuser is "actually domiciled in Australia".

Virginia Giuffre is suing the Queen's son for allegedly assaulting her when she was a teenager. Andrew strongly denies the allegation.

His lawyer, Andrew B Brettler, said in documents filed in the southern district court of New York on Tuesday that the case should be halted until the "issue of subject matter jurisdiction is adjudicated".

He wrote: "Recently discovered evidence suggests that the court does not have subject matter jurisdiction over this action because plaintiff Virginia L Giuffre cannot satisfy the elements of diversity jurisdiction.

"Notwithstanding that, in her complaint Ms Giuffre alleges she is a citizen of the state of Colorado; the evidence demonstrates that she is actually domiciled in Australia, where she has lived for all but two of the past 19 years."

He went on: "It is undisputed that at the time she filed this action Ms Giuffre had an Australian driver's licence and was living in a $A1.9m (US$1m) home in Perth, Western Australia, where she and her husband have been raising their three children.

"In reality, Ms Giuffre's ties to Colorado are very limited. She has not lived there since at least 2019 - approximately two years before she filed this lawsuit against Prince Andrew - and potentially, according to her own deposition testimony, not since October 2015."