Cairns court: jury delivers verdict in Keith William Marshall rape trial

The jury has delivered its verdict on a 62-year-old Earlville man charged with raping a 12-year-old girl.

Keith Marshall’s victim said what he did ‘changed her life forever’.

A jury deliberated for just over one day before delivering its verdict late on Monday afternoon.

The jury in the trial of Keith William Marshall began deliberating late on Friday afternoon after hearing four days of evidence.

Marshall, 62, was found guilty of raping and indecently treating a 12-year-old girl.

The court had heard during the trial that the girl was at a sleepover at a house in Earlville on May 1, 2020, when she woke and Marshall had her sit on his lap, then he kissed her ear and licked her ear and said, “you know I love you, right” and sexually assaulted her.

The court heard he said to the girl, “don’t tell anyone because I want to do more with you”, and slapped her on the bottom after the incident.

The girl told her friends what had happened a few weeks later, and one insisted she tell her mother.

Keith Marshall was found to have indecently assaulted and raped a 12-year-old girl.

The jury was played a video of the police interview with the girl in July 2020 as well as her prerecorded evidence and cross examination by defence barrister James Sheridan.

Marshall gave the girl a leg massage the previous evening.

The court heard “he’d always been touchy and feely” with her and after the incident, she held a dog while he moved a car, and he gave her “a kiss and a cuddle”.

Prosecutor Rachel Boivin told the jury the girl said he was often slapping her on the bottom and that he had licked her ear previously, and it was not unusual for him to ask her to sit on his lap, but she thought nothing of it because she was young.

Ms Boivin said the crime “changed her life and who she was, forever”.

She told the jury the girl recalled Marshall licking her ears, holding her hand and slapping her bottom over some years and because she was so young, she thought nothing of it.

Ms Boivin argued these acts demonstrated Marshall had a sexual interest in the girl.

Marshall sat glumly in the back of the courtroom as the verdict was read out.

The trial began on September 10 with Marshall pleading not guilty, but did not proceed on September 11 as Marshall did not appear.

The jury heard evidence from witnesses including Cairns police child protection investigation unit officers Detective Senior Constable Simon Kampman, Detective Sergeant Mark Bamford and Detective Senior Constable Wendy Macrae.

They delivered the verdict as Mr Marshall sat sombre and fatigued with a group of nine supporters sitting in the courtroom to his left.

Judge Tracy Fantin will sentence Marshall on Tuesday.

Originally published as Cairns court: jury delivers verdict in Keith William Marshall rape trial