Prince Andrew Accuser Responds To Sexual Assault Lawsuit Challenge: 'Another Tired Attempt'

Prince Andrew's sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre isn't fazed by the royal challenging her residency status in a bid to have her case against him thrown out of court, her lawyer says.

Lawyers for the Duke of York filed a motion Tuesday that states Giuffre, 38, is not a U.S. citizen and thus the New York court does not have jurisdiction over her civil case against him. They called for the case to be stopped because his accuser is "actually domiciled in Australia," The Guardian reported.

Giuffre is seeking unspecified damages after Queen Elizabeth’s son allegedly assaulted her at the home of Ghislaine Maxwell in London and at two homes owned by Jeffrey Epstein when she was 17. Prince Andrew has denied the allegations.

Responding to the challenge, Giuffre's lawyer Sigrid McCawley said in a statement to Rolling Stone that this was "just another in a series of tired attempts by Prince Andrew to duck and dodge the legal merits of the case Virginia Giuffre has brought against him."

"All parties in litigation are subject to discovery, and Prince Andrew is no exception, despite what he may think," McCawley continued.

Prince Andrew's lawyer Andrew Brettler said in documents filed in the southern district court of New York Tuesday that the sexual assault lawsuit should be halted until the "issue of subject matter jurisdiction is adjudicated."

The attorney wrote that though Giuffre said in her complaint that she is a citizen of Colorado, "evidence" revealed that she has lived in Australia for all but two of the last 19 years.

Brettler also said in court documents that Giuffre had an Australian driver's license and was living in a home in Perth, Australia, with her husband and their three children when she filed the lawsuit against Prince Andrew.

The lawyer also pointed out that Giuffre has "limited" ties to Colorado and has not lived there since at least 2019, two years before she sued the prince. The documents stated she "only recently registered to vote in Colorado using her mother and stepfather's mailing address there."

"In light of the apparent lack of diversity jurisdiction, Prince Andrew respectfully requests that the court order Ms. Giuffre to respond to targeted written discovery requests pertaining to her domicile and submit to a two-hour remote deposition limited to the issue of her domicile," the lawyer wrote, according to The Guardian.

Federal court rules do not allow both parties involved in a case to be foreign citizens, according to Sky News.

The hearing of the case has been scheduled for Tuesday.

Last month, Steve Scully, 72, a former telecommunications specialist who worked for Epstein, testified against Prince Andrew. He alleged that he saw the prince with 17-year-old Giuffre when they were on Epstein's private island, Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, in 2001.

"[Prince Andrew] removed [Giuffre's] bathing suit top and then started grinding against her and grabbing her a--," Scully said. "They were kissing as well. That’s when I had words with him. I said, 'Hello, your Highness.' And he said, 'No, it's Andrew.'"

Maxwell was found guilty Wednesday of five charges of sex trafficking.