Jury returns not guilty verdict in trial of Warwick man accused of child abuse

Following a four day trial, a jury has returned its verdict in the case of a Warwick man accused of sexual offences against two boys.

The jury has returned a verdict in the trial of a Warwick man accused of six counts of sexual offences involving two children aged 12 and 10 at the time.

The jury found the man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – not guilty on all six counts of indecent acts towards children, two of which while under care.

The verdict comes after a lengthy trial in which the jury heard from the boys who were allegedly abused by the man, the parents of the two boys and from the accused himself. 

The man faced six counts including two charges of unlawfully and indecently dealing with a child under 16, two counts of unlawfully and indecently dealing with a child under 12 and two charges relating to indecent exposure while under care.

He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, and when taking the stand to give evidence, denied the Crown’s case against him.

During Judge Nathan Jarro’s final summary of the case before the jury retired for deliberation, he told the jury there were many factors that would have to be analysed to return a guilty verdict.

“You might notice striking similarities in some of the charges, between the age of the two boys, types of offending and how the alleged offences occurred when the boys were alone,” Judge Jarro told the jury.

“You might find similarities, such as the use of violence – the grabbing by the throat – in one charge which isn’t in others.”

Judge Jarro reminded the jury there were many different people in the house and people were constantly coming and going as suggested by the defence on Thursday.

“The prospect of the man being discovered in the house was large, there was a significant risk of being discovered – it makes no sense,” Judge Jarro said, quoting defence lawyer Jens Streit.

Judge Jarro noted that there was no physical evidence provided by the Crown relating to count five and six of the indictment, relating to the allegation that the man had sent two photos and a video of his genitalia to the 10-year-old boy over Snapchat.

The judge also told the jury that the Crown’s case relied on witness testimonies, which had several “markers of truth” proving they were “reliable and honest”.

“There’s four main markers of truth provided by the prosecution, including the detail of account by the witnesses, the logic of the account, the witnesses of account – they were maintained, no embellishment and natural giving evidence and there was evidence provided by the crown to support the accounts,” Judge Jarro said.

The jury retired to deliberate just after 11am on Friday.

Following a deliberation which lasted just over two hours, the jury returned a verdict finding the man not guilty on all six charges.

There were tears in the courtroom as Judge Jarro allowed the man to leave the courtroom, with a man in the public gallery saying “he’s a free man, he’s a free man”.