Seaton man stands trial accused of indecent assaulting child in 1970s

A man accused of indecently assaulting his young sister-in-law while his new wife was just meters away has told the court the allegations “make absolutely no sense”.

A Seaton man has denied sexually abusing his child sister-in-law telling the court she never even visited the house where she claims one of offences took place.

Later during cross-examination, the man conceded the then 7 to 9-year-old girl may have but he could not remember her being there.

The accused, who has not been named to protect his alleged victim’s identity, stood trial in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court after pleading not guilty to two counts of indecent assault dating back to the early 1970s.

Taking the stand on Wednesday he claimed the allegations made “absolutely no sense”.

A Seaton man is standing trial in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court accused of abused his young sister-in-law for years. Picture: Kaysee Miller

Giving evidence last week the alleged victim said the brother-in-law asked her to have a lie down when visiting for lunch, but he told the court he “would never lie down in the middle of the day”.

“I have no memory of lying down in the afternoon or asking to lie down in the afternoon,” he said.

“That makes no sense that I would (even) ask my wife to lay down in the afternoon – it makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

“Why would I ask (the alleged victim)? Why would I ask her? I’d ask my wife if I was going to lay down, but I wouldn’t ask her.”

The man was warned by Magistrates Paul Bennett after he did not answer what he called “hypothetical” questions asked by the prosecution.

“Another one of those, ‘could have been, could have beens’, anything could have been,” the man said.

Earlier, the woman told the court the man had indecently assaulted her twice in two different western suburbs homes when family members were just metres away.

She alleged the accused pulled her underwear off, touched her forcefully, causing extreme pain and continued to harass her for about a decade.

“I tried to push his hand away and asked him to stop and he said, ‘it’s okay, it’s okay’,” she said.

“I tried to push his hand away because he was hurting me.”

She said she feared “destroying” her sister’s marriage if she reported the abuse and worried it would bring “shame” onto her family.

“I was so young and I thought maybe I did something to deserve what happened – I thought perhaps it was my fault,” the woman said.

In his closing submissions, Craig Caldicott, for the man, told the court the circumstances alleged were “highly, highly unlikely”.

“The second (allegation) in particular is super brazen. It’s inside of the house with his effectively newish wife only metres away where he’s telling (the alleged victim) to be quiet,” he said.

“There was simply an assertion by (the woman) about this without any supporting evidence.”

Mr Bennett will deliver his verdict in April.