Millicent man pleads not guilty to having sexual intercourse with a child in the 1980s

In a country supermarket, a smiling man approached the woman he allegedly sexually abused 30 years ago, before fronting court for the historic charge.

A Millicent man smiled and approached his alleged victim in the months before he entered his plea for a historical child sexual abuse charge.

The 52-year-old pleaded not guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under 12 but pleaded guilty to breaching bail at the Mount Gambier Magistrate Court on Monday.

It was alleged the man had sexual intercourse with the child by inserting his finger into her vagina on February 27, 1987 in Millicent.

A Millicent man has pleaded not guilty to having sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 12 in the 1980s. Picture: Jessica Ball

After entering a bail agreement with the condition he would not approach the alleged victim in November 2020, he did so on January 29.

The police prosecutor said the protected person was distressed, the police were called and the accused was arrested spending around an hour in custody where he declined to be interviewed.

“At around 11.20 in the morning at a store in Millicent, the victim looked up and realised the defendant was in the same store looking straight at her and commenced to walk towards her, looking at her and smiling,” the police prosecutor said.

His defence lawyer, Kate Annells said the accused who had low functioning autism spectrum disorder was doing his usual shopping when the breach occurred and while he acknowledged he had approached, he had not recognised her.

“It’s a historical sexual offence, my client has not had contact with alleged victim since the 1980s and he doesn’t actually know what she looks like now,” Ms Annells said.

Magistrate Maria Panagiotidis found there was a case to answer in relation to the historic charge and committed the accused to stand trial in the Mount Gambier District Court.

For the breach of bail, Magistrate Panagiotidis recorded a conviction, ordered him to pay costs of $681.

His bail conditions remain in place and he will reappear in October.