Hervey Bay man found not guilty of sexual assaults

A Queensland man has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting his former partner while she was breastfeeding their child in the presence of a teenage girl.

A man accused of sexually assaulting his former partner while she was breastfeeding is currently on trial in Hervey Bay.

A man accused of sexually assaulting his former partner while she tried to breastfeed their child has been found not guilty.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault during the trial before Judge Gary Long in Hervey Bay District Court.

The closing statements were made to the jury by the Crown prosecutor and the man’s defence barrister on Thursday.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Francis told the jury the man had been intoxicated on the day the alleged sexual assault happened, and had come by the woman’s house to visit his young son.

During the visit, the woman attempted to breastfeed the child while they sat in the living room, but the man placed his mouth on her breast, Mr Francis said.

The incident was alleged to have happened while another of the woman’s children, a 14-year-old girl, was in the room.

Later, while sitting on the floor, the man was alleged to have touched the woman between the legs.

He was also accused of another instance of placing his mouth on her breast.

Mr Francis told the court that the two had not been in a sexual relationship at the time of the incident.

The woman had later gone to police to make a complaint.

But five months later she had resumed a sexual relationship with the man, the court heard.

Mr Francis said that just because that was the case did not mean the alleged assaults didn’t happen.

In response, the man’s legal representative described the woman’s evidence as “unconvincing”.

He said the woman’s motivation to lie was because the man had begun pursuing a relationship with another woman and she resented that he was “getting the best of both worlds”.

“By the conclusion of her evidence you would have gotten a distinct suspicion that she’s playing a little bit of a double game,” he said.

He told the jury they could not rely on the evidence of the woman because it was “not convincing” and her evidence had been contradicted in “many important ways”.

That included testimony from the teenager who was in room that she had not actually seen the man put his mouth on the woman’s breast or touch her between the legs, he said.

The trial was not a chance for the jury to “balance the scales” for victims of sexual assault who had been poorly treated, he said.

The man’s lawyer urged the jury to put aside any emotions they might have had during the trial and come to a decision based on the evidence.

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on each of the charges on Friday morning.