Last week we told you about the accused child molester who was brutally "double benked" by two women in Ladyville. Those women are now in jail for attempted murder while the man, 38-year-old Gregory Coote is in the hospital recovering from stab wounds all over his body and a baseball bat injury to his head. The women, Merlene Clarke and Elizabeth Tillet, claimed that they beat Coote in self-defense and to make the case worse for him, he is currently on trial for molesting Clarke's 8 year old stepsister. Clarke is also Coote's former stepdaughter. Well tonight we offer you the other side of the story and we promise you that it isn't pretty. Coote's people called 7NEWS today and said he wanted to set the record straight.
In an at-times sexually explicit interview, Coote told Keith Swift that he was actually dating and living with his former stepdaughter, Merlene Clarke for the past six months. He says that he wasn't beaten in self-defense, he says it was more like revenge. He claims that Clarke was enraged after he had a sex romp with another girl and didn't invite her.
Godfrey Coote, Beating Victim
"When I came back both ladies were in the bed and I knocked on the door and Merlene answered the door but she had a knife and I told her to put away the knife because everything is straight. I went in the room and the next lady was on the bed and we talked a little bit but it seems to me like they had a game plan because when I took the light off and jumped in the bed, I got swung on by the other female. When the other female swung me on, I grabbed the fan to try and defend myself and then I got hit again. The second hit dazed me a little bit so I drifted back way and fell. When I fell that is when Merlene got up off the bed and started to put in her work.
What went on, the way I see it, is that I really didn't know that I shouldn't have messed with this girl unless I got her permission, that's the way I see it. Because when I started to mess with the young lady, she told me that Merlene said I wasn't supposed to mess with her unless she said when but it went on anyway."
Keith Swift,
Are you looking for sympathy from the public?
Gregory Coote,
"I don't want to sympathy for the public, I want the public to know that we were swinging and anybody who knows her in Ladyville, knows that that is the way how she rests. We swing, she brings girls for me."
Coote's trial for molesting the 8-year-old girl is on hold while he recovers in the hospital. And though he called us to set the record straight on why he was beat up, we couldn't let Coote get away without answering questions about the alleged child molestation. In court testimony, the girl alleged that after performing oral sex on her he slapped her. Coote responded to those allegations today and said those too are lies. He says is being set up by yet another vengeful ex-girlfriend.
Keith Swift,
A little girl said in court that you molested her and then you slapped her when she cried?
Godfrey Coote, Accused Child Molester
"I was in court. I am going to defend that when the time comes, I am going to defend that when the time comes. I lived with that child's mother and she is nothing nice. When I say nothing nice, nothing nice. She promised me, when we were breaking up that if I didn't go to jail, she was going to kill me. So they framed me and I know that and so I'll defend that when the time comes."
Keith Swift,
So you are saying that this little 8 year old girl sat in court and lied?
Godfrey Coote,
"Definitely made up. I also got a lot of girls, I work and I make money. Once you got money and you dress right, girls ain't a problem. I ain't got to mess with no child."
Keith Swift,
Some might say you got what you deserved last week.
Godfrey Coote,
"People can say what they want but I lived with the lady for quite a while and I lived with the lady from she had nothing. I used to go to Nova's Shrimp Farm and thief to maintain that family so they know the goodness of me bringing them up. I just decided to leave the lady because the lady had a lot of men and liked to gamble but I used to make a lot of money and handle her. When I decided to leave she said that if she couldn't get me, she would send me to jail or kill me so I know she framed me."
Keith Swift,
You didn't answer my question. Did you do these despicable things?
Gregory Coote,
"Definitely nothing happened to the little girl man, nothing happened to that litte girl."
Coote claims he is being defended in the molestation trial by Simeon Sampson.
