Ex-Eyre Peninsula bakery owner claims his employees weren’t brought into sex ‘cult’ until they were at least 17

The former owner of an Eyre Peninsula bakery says he and his then-wife did not include his young employees in his sexual fantasies until they were 17, a court has heard.

The male accused denies the sexual relationship started when the alleged victims were under 17. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Naomi Jellicoe

A man accused of grooming two young workers at his family-owned bakery, bringing them into his sex “cult” and impregnating them does not deny the sexual relationships – just the time at which they happened, a court has heard.

Prosecutors allege the former Eyre Peninsula man – whom The Advertiser has chosen not to name to protect the identity of the alleged victims – groomed his young employees in the 1980s before getting his wife involved.

The man has been charged with unlawful sexual intercourse, sexual abuse of a child and indecent assault.

His former wife, the co-accused, has also been charged with unlawful sexual intercourse and sexual abuse of a child. Her charges relate to one victim.

In her closing statement on Thursday, defence lawyer Sally Burgess said the fact the alleged offence occurred more than more 30 years ago poses a threat to the credibility of the victims and witnesses’ evidence.

“I suggest to you that delay can impact the accuracy of a person’s memory, it can lead to distorted perceptions, it can lead to the potential for influence from others to have an impact on someone’s memory and it can allow for reconstruction and also the alteration of memories,” she said.

“It’s been suggested to (one of the victims) that she has deliberately altered the time frame of events to suit her purposes mainly to make them criminal.”

Carrie Demertzis, defence counsel for the female accused, said in her closing statement on Thursday the female accused also does not deny having a sexual relationship with the girls after they turned 17.

“There is no dispute that there was a sexual relationship between the female accused and the victim at some point,” she said.

“It’s entirely possible given the passage of time that (the victim) is wrong about the progression.”

In prosecutor Lisa Dunlop’s closing address on Wednesday she asked the jury to take careful consideration of the evidence alleging the male accused started a sexual relationship with the two victims before they were of age.

“Each of these young women that are the alleged victims before you have come into the orbit of (the male and female accused) through their employment at the bakery,” she said.

“Each of them speaks about the working environment that they worked in which set up, on prosecution case, the environment for this sexual offending.

“I say to you that the (male accused) has twisted and turned at every step to try and cast blame anywhere but himself and distance himself at every opportunity from what is said to have happened and to make it seem like the sexual contact only started once it was officially legal after 17.”

The jury is expected to reach a verdict in the coming days.