Man guilty of sexually abusing his girlfriend’s young child after claiming it could have been a bad dream

A man has been found guilty of sexually abusing his girlfriend’s eight-year-old daughter – with a lawyer telling the court she may have dreamt it.

A man has been found guilty by jury and jailed for sexually abusing his girlfriend’s eight-year-old daughter despite claiming she had just been having a bad dream.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons and to protect the girl’s identity, was standing trial in the District Court after pleading not guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a child.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Lisa Dunlop said the girl didn’t report the abuse until she learnt of its insidious nature in a class as part of the child protection curriculum.

The court had heard the girl’s father had been previously convicted of the indecent assault of a teenager.

Peter Hill, for the man, asked the jury to find there was reasonable doubt that his client had not committed the offending, and the girl simply believed her dream was real.

“Is it possible that she said the contents of her dreams were real events, knowing these things hadn’t really happened or at least hadn’t really happened with (the man) but she said that because she thought the interviewer wanted to hear,” he said.

“Or because maybe that’s what she thought her supportive mum wanted her to do by the time we get to interview three.

“Or, in the alternative, was (the girl) completely mistaken? Had she come to believe at some point that her dream was real?

“And when considering the possibility that these allegations stem from a bad dream, you would instantly wonder how an eight-year-old can dream such things and, of course, that’s been the focus of the prosecution address.”

The young girl told her teacher about it following a class about inappropriate touching.

Mr Hill also said the young girl’s biological father may have wanted to “go further” given his indecent assault of a 13-year-old girl.

“I submit that the evidence about (the father) does more than raise the possibility that he has a sexual interest in children,” he said.

“It’s a proven offence of aggravated indecent assault against a 13-year-old girl.

“What you have is a demonstrated sexual attraction to younger girls which raises the very real possibility that he would want to go further given the opportunity.”

Ms Dunlop previously told the court the young girl opened up about the abuse to her teacher following the educational lesson.

“(The alleged victim) told the teacher that certain things had been happening to her … she had some difficulty saying the words and to some extent, she was conveying what she was saying by talking but also by drawing,” she said.

“Through those simple drawings and through what she conveyed to her teacher on that day, (the alleged victim), on the prosecution case, was conveying to her teacher that she had been, that she was being, sexually abused by the accused.”

The man will next appear in the District Court for sentencing submissions in July.