UPDATED 20 May, 12:30 pm: In the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday (20 May), Kevin Malone announced he would fight the historical sexual assault charges laid against him.
His lawyer entered not guilty pleas on his behalf to three counts of having sex with a young person aged under 10, as well as a charge of performing an act of indecency without consent. He did not enter a plea to a count of supplying cannabis to a child.
Magistrate Beth Campbell adjourned the case to 29 July and continued Mr Malone’s bail.
As it is indictable, the matter will likely progress to the Supreme Court.
A young woman has described, in harrowing detail, allegations her former babysitter raped her when she was less than 10 years of age.
Kevin Malone, 45, broke down in tears in court when told he would be charged over the claims, as well as over accusations he sold cannabis to her underage cousin.
The now young woman made her allegations to police, which were detailed in court documents, saying while she was a child she stayed at his house when her mother went out, as her mother “trusted him as a babysitter”.
She claimed when she stayed over, she would sleep in the same bed as him.
“I didn’t realise it was wrong. He used to tell my mum that I’d sleep on the couch, but it never happened,” she said.
She alleged Malone digitally penetrated her twice while she was playing video games on an Xbox.
The second time it happened, the woman said she told him to stop, but he allegedly replied: “It isn’t wrong for me to touch you.”
The woman told police one night Malone gave her a glass of lemonade and within 20 minutes of drinking it she was “on the ground just falling in and out of consciousness”.
She alleged he raped her when she was falling asleep in his bed before she passed out.
Police said she did not tell her mother that Malone had allegedly molested her until she was 11 years old.
Over the following years, as they talked more, the young woman said she wanted to bring charges against him, and her mother said she would support her when she was ready.
But the young woman said she never told her mother the full story of what allegedly happened to her.
“I don’t want her to know what I went through because I don’t want her to blame herself,” she said.
When Malone, a landscaper, was interviewed by police, he “adamantly” denied ever touching her in any sort of sexual way.
He is also accused of inappropriately touching the young woman’s underage cousin after giving her cannabis.
The cousin told police she “passed out” at his house after allegedly giving her a drink and a “cone” of cannabis. When she woke up, she claims his hands were inside the waistband of her pants.
Malone applied for bail in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday (29 April) and began to cry when he was told he would be charged with raping the young woman.
In total, he was charged with three counts of sexual intercourse with a young person aged under 10 and performing an act of indecency without consent and supplying cannabis to a child. He did not enter pleas.
Prosecutor Juanita Zankin opposed bail, saying the allegations were historical, and while she accepted there had not been any recent contact between Malone and the two women, what had changed was that he was now aware the accusations had been made against him.
She said the women were afraid Malone would harass them if released.
Ms Zankin argued the prosecution’s case was strong, and the complainants were “incredibly detailed and consistent” when describing their alleged experiences.
But Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker said Ms Zankin’s grounds for opposition to bail were “speculative”, and there was nothing to indicate Malone would approach the women.
She said he had no contact with them for at least several years.
Chief Magistrate Walker granted bail, with conditions including he not contact the complainants, and adjourned the case to 20 May for pleas to be entered.
The tears did not last long once Mr Malone left the courthouse. When he walked out of the building, he spotted journalists outside and yelled, “What are you f—ers doing?” then called one a “c—“.