Husband of Danish princess' cousin faces rape

A former teacher married to a cousin of Denmark's Crown Princess Mary loathes himself for a relationship he had with a teenage student that led to him being charged with rape and sexual assault, a court heard Wednesday. Brendan Geoffrey Johncock, 42, who attended Australian-born Mary Donaldson's wedding to Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik in May last year, has pleaded innocent in Tasmania's Supreme Court to a charge of rape, another of aggravated assault, four counts of indecent assault and two counts of aggravated sexual assault. He pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault.

The court was shown a video Wednesday of a police interview of Johncock during which he told detectives that he had a consensual sexual relationship with an unidentified student that began when she was 16.

"Nobody's more ashamed and embarrassed than me ... I hate myself to death," he said during the interview. The assaults and rape are alleged to have happened between September 2001 and March 2002. In the video interview, Johncock said he began e-mailing the teenager, beginning with general chat but ultimately leading to sexual innuendo.

"It was a long, drawn-out process over a year or two ... you do become attached and forget about reality," he said. "I know that's a sickening thing to say." The case was expected to go to the jury Thursday.

The assaults happen in Tasmania state, an island off the Australian mainland's southeastern tip where Mary Donaldson was raised. She met Crown Prince Frederik at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and marrying him last year at a lavish ceremony in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, reports the AP. I.L.