Teen accused of sexually assaulting younger sister charged with attempted incest

CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses alleged child abuse.

A teenager accused of sexually assaulting his younger sister has been charged with attempted incest.

The 17-year-old and his sister, aged under 10, were at home in Canberra early on Monday morning (3 July) when she asked him if she could borrow his iPad, court documents claim.

He agreed and she went into her bedroom to play with the device, but he allegedly followed her inside.

It is alleged he began tickling her and tried to fold her pants down.

She felt uncomfortable and tried to lie down in her bed and go to sleep, but he allegedly lay down beside her.

It is then alleged that he pulled down both their pants and underwear, and the alleged assault took place, causing her to feel pain.

The girl got up, said, “I’ll be back”, then left the room to talk to her father.

But as the teenager allegedly followed her, she didn’t feel she could talk to her father.

Later that same morning, she told another sibling about her allegations. Then the pair went to her mother.

The matter was reported to police in the afternoon and the teenager was arrested that night.

He appeared in the ACT Children’s Court on Tuesday (4 July) and was charged with the attempted incest of a person aged under 10 and committing an aggravated act of indecency on a person aged under 10.

No pleas were entered.

Prosecutor James Melloy told the court he would not oppose bail if an appropriate address could be found for the teen to stay and the teen’s Legal Aid lawyer, Georgia Le Couteur, said a residence had been found.

She also said he was willing to engage in a night-time curfew.

Special Magistrate Rebecca Christensen ultimately granted bail, with conditions including that the teen stays at the address, reside under a curfew, not contact his sister and not return to their home, except on one occasion in the company of police to collect his belongings.

Also, he is not allowed to be in the company of anyone under the age of 16 unless he is with an adult.

The matter was adjourned to later in July.