Brisbane stepdad to see retrial for alleged Easter Sunday abuse

A retrial has been ordered in a case against a stepfather, which initially emerged after two young girls dropped Easter Sunday bombshell allegations four years ago.

A retrial has been ordered for a man accused of indecently dealing with his two stepdaughters.

Nearly four years to the day after two young sisters allegedly realised they were both victims of indecent touching at the hands of their stepfather, and less than a year since he was found guilty of the alleged crimes against them, a Brisbane court has ordered a retrial.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted on June 24 last year of nine counts of indecent treatment against his two stepdaughters in a case where “collusion was in issue”.

The District Court of Brisbane heard he allegedly indecently dealt with the older sister when she was aged between 12 and 15, and with the younger sister when she was between 10 and 12.

It was alleged he touched the older sister over her clothes by stroking or grabbing her breasts, sliding a hand up and down her thighs, pinching or stroking her bottom, and stroking her leg from the knee to the upper thigh.

He also allegedly touched his younger stepdaughter over her clothes, on her vagina and breast.

The accused appealed the convictions on the grounds the trial judge misdirected the jury by identifying an issue related to potential collusion between the two girls as though it was not in contest when it was, and that the verdicts were “unreasonable”.

The Court of Appeal heard the stepfather began living with the sisters and their mother early 2016. The blended family moved house later that year before the accused married the girls’ mother.

The older sister told the District Court of numerous alleged instances of inappropriate conduct at the hands of her stepfather, at least some of which she allegedly told her mother about in 2017.

“I just decided, no … I’ve gotta say it, so I told dad and I told mum,” she said.

“But I texted her about it, and I was really angry.

“… she didn’t believe me, and I think it was because I said it when I was angry at him …”

She said there were times when she wanted to tell her mum about what allegedly happened, but her mum “was just so happy” and “never witnessed that disgusting side of him”.

“… I was just thinking about everything that would change if I told mum,” she said.

She said she eventually told her mum, dad, stepmother, and friends about some of the allegations, but it was not until Easter Sunday in 2019 that the two sisters spoke about what their stepdad had allegedly done to each of them.

A retrial was ordered in the Court of Appeal on March 31.

Evidence from the younger sister was read to the jury last year.

“Every time I was left alone with him, I felt uncomfortable,” she said.

“He would always say, ‘why don’t you love me?’ and stuff and it was weird. And he is just a dirty F’ed up man.”

The defence argued the versions of events provided by both girls were “wildly inconsistent” and that there was “evidence of significant dishonesty”.

Reference was also made to “a motive to lie and make a false complaint” and the girls’ “significant delay” in the making of such a complaint.

Judge Philip Morrison determined in the Court of Appeal that the sisters’ accounts did not have “the hallmarks of a concocted account, or ones the product of collusion”.

“Both (sisters) denied any such suggestion,” he said.

“Their evidence does not appear scripted or rehearsed and was accompanied by a level of detail that suggested a genuine account.”

He said perceived issues raised in the man’s appeal did not reduce the value of the evidence such that there was a significant possibility an innocent person had been convicted.

He proposed that the appeal be dismissed. A second judge disagreed.

Judge Margaret McMurdo referred to a direction by the trial judge to the jury that “the evidence is that (the sisters) did not talk together about these things until the 20th of April 2019”, which was followed by a reminder that the jury “knew” that the girls had told other people of the allegations before April 20, 2019.

“The effect of this summary of the evidence was that the jury were to understand that each complainant had spoken to others about what had happened to her, as early as 2017 in (the older sister’s) case, whereas “the evidence” was that the girls did not talk to each other about the (stepdad’s) conduct until 20 April 2019,” Ms McMurdo said, recommending an appeal be allowed.

Judge John Bond agreed with Ms McMurdo, stating: “In order to use each sister’s evidence in support of reaching a conclusion on the truthfulness and reliability of the other, the jury had to be persuaded that there was no real risk of collusion. But on that critical question, there was, as McMurdo JA has pointed out, a misdirection on the facts.”

The appeal was allowed, all convictions were set aside, and a retrial was ordered.