Evidence against disability carer Arjun Kandel ‘not of sufficient quality’ to convict, court told

A disability carer charged with sexual offences should not be found guilty because the evidence against him is “not of sufficient quality”, a court has heard.

A relief disability worker accused of sexually assaulting two intellectually disabled women in his care says the evidence against him is “not of sufficient quality” to find him guilty.

Arjun Kandel, 44, of Modbury is standing trial after pleading not guilty to charges of rape, unlawful sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault.

Prosecutors have alleged that he was reliving on a day shift at a northern suburbs home where the two alleged victims – who required 24 hour supervision – lived on the day of the alleged sexual assaults in August 2020.

In his closing statement Andrew Culshaw, for Mr Kandel, said the evidence against his client was “not of sufficient quality to accept beyond reasonable doubt Mr Kandel’s guilt of any of the charged conduct”.

Relief disability carer accused of sexually abusing clients, Arjun Kandel, outside court after an earlier hearing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Morgan Sette

He urged Judge Kudelka to apply “careful scrutiny” to the evidence of both alleged victims and said one of the women’s evidence contained “frailties”.

He said there were “all sorts of possibilities” which would be drawn from the evidence, including DNA, which had been heard during the trial.

“There is no explanation in this case which explains every piece of evidence perfectly,” he said.

Opening the trial last year, prosecutor Lisa Dunlop said the regular overnight carer noticed something was amiss when she arrived to start her shift and the washing machine was in use.

Mr Kandel had told the regular carer that one of the women had an accident in her room requiring her sheets to be washed.

The court had heard the illiterate and intellectually disabled woman was later able to describe being sexually assaulted.

Ms Dunlop said another woman at the home had also reported Mr Kandel attempting to get her to touch him sexually, and that he had asked her a number of “entirely inappropriate” questions.

Ms Dunlop had told the court Mr Kandel had “well overstepped his bounds in his role as a carer”.

In her closing remarks, delivered on Thursday, she said the evidence of the two women was “not perfect” but their descriptions of the allegations were compelling.

She said Mr Kandel had “crossed the line” with the women and “became a predator to some of the most vulnerable members of our community and people who had very little power or capacity to protect themselves”.

The judge-alone trial started last year and closing submissions were delivered on Thursday.

Judge Liesl Kudelka, who presided over the trial in the absence of a jury, said she would not deliver a verdict before November. Mr Kandel will return to court on a date to be set.