'I want to speak out': two sisters allege man abused them when young, trial hears

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to alleged indecent assaults.

One of two sisters who have accused a man of indecently abusing them when they were young told police she came forward because she wanted to “speak out about it”.

The man, who is currently not named for legal reasons, is fighting charges accusing him of committing sexual offences against the sisters in the 2010s in a trial that began in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday (26 September).

Their mother had been cleaning the younger sister’s bedroom when she found scrunched-up papers and started to read them, but had to stop, prosecutor Trent Hickey told jurors in his opening address.

The notes contained phrases that were something like “I was molested” and “he would make me sit on his lap” as well as the man’s name, he alleged.

The sisters went on to tell their family about their allegations before the younger sister was interviewed by police in 2020.

“I was sexually assaulted as a kid and I want to speak out about it,” she told an officer in a video shown to jurors.

It is alleged that she was about six or seven when the man, a friend of the family, kissed her body on two occasions.

On the first, it is also alleged he sat her on his lap, touched her body and indecently assaulted her.

In the video, she claimed she felt “uncomfortable and weird” and “like I couldn’t move” during the first alleged occasion.

“I was just scared,” she said.

“I didn’t really understand what was going on because no one had ever done that.

“I was very confused as to what was happening.”

The man is also alleged to have abused the older sister on several occasions when she was aged between about 14 and 17.

It is alleged he kissed her or touched her body, including after pulling her onto his lap as well as pushing her down or up against a wall.

However, barrister Keegan Lee, representing the man, did not accept what the sisters claimed and said the central issue in the trial was whether the alleged conduct “occurred at all”.

He said the credibility and reliability of the two sisters was very much an issue, for instance questioning the likelihood of whether the allegations occurred in the way that was described and whether there were inconsistencies between witnesses.

Mr Lee also questioned whether the fact the sisters had spoken to each other about the allegations had “tainted their memories”.

The man has pleaded not guilty to three counts of committing an act of indecency on a young person over the allegations regarding the younger sister.

He also pleaded not guilty to four counts of committing an act of indecency without consent and one count each of sexual assault in the third degree and committing an act of indecency on a young person over the older sister’s allegations.

The trial continues before Chief Justice Lucy McCallum.