Channel 7 TV star child abuse allegations revealed

Three witnesses have given evidence about shocking allegations against a woman who appeared in a prominent Channel 7 TV show, as she faces more than 30 counts of serious offences against young children.

The defendant appeared with her co-accused in a prominent Channel 7 program. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Shocking details of the child abuse allegations towards a TV star have been revealed in a Queensland court.

The woman, who cannot be named due to a non-publication order, faced a committal hearing in Richland Magistrates Court on Friday.

The woman – who appeared in a prominent Channel 7 show along with her co-accused – faced more than 30 counts of serious charges including torture, rape, sexual assault, assault occasioning bodily harm – some even armed or in company – indecent treatment of a child and common assault.

The alleged offences span various years.

The court heard that the prosecution prepared statements of more than 10 people, in which three witnesses testified in court for cross examination.

A relative of the woman, who appeared as a witness in court, accused the woman of applying coconut oil to his infant’s sexual organ using a stroking motion.

Defence barrister Simon Lewis criticised why he would leave the infant with the woman for babysitting after the incident.

The man said he was trying to take space from her because of the “sexual play”, but he was scared as the woman made multiple phone calls and left voice messages for threats.

A man known to the family claimed a minor told him the accused touched her vagina and anus.

“We just had lunch … and we were sitting on the couch talking,” he said.

“She stated it was in the bathroom, getting changed, any instances where she was not wearing clothing growing up.

“That was the truth, as far as I knew.”

Mr Lewis criticised the witness for not mentioning the location in his statement with the police.

“There’s no mention of a bathroom or anything like that in your statement,” he said.

“You’re very vague in your statement.

“You don’t give any context or any detail. You just say she boldly said this.”

The witness said the conversation was made 10 years ago, so he could not remember every single word.

He also claimed the woman was waving a knife towards the girl aggressively in the kitchen on one occasion.

“She would wave the knife towards whichever the girl she was yelling at or intimidating,” he said.

The witness said the woman had a knife in her hand but never suggested she would stab anyone.

“She never said, ‘I’m going to stab you’, or ‘if you don’t do this, I’m going to cut you’, or anything like that,” he said.

The witness said the way she waved the knife was quite close to the girls.

The court heard a prominent complainant’s 39-page police statement was unavailable until one hour after the hearing started.

Magistrate Stuart Shearer said it had been over a year since the matters were before the court.

“You’re the prosecution. You’re the ones who are supposed to come to court ready to produce admissible evidence in a visible way,” he said.

“Not for the defence to tell you, ‘sorry, buddy, you can’t do it that way’.

“It’s your job to make sure that what you want to do in the first place is legally permissible before we even get to this stage.”

Queensland Police Service was contacted for comment.

Mr Shearer adjourned the case to November 18 and enlarged the woman’s bail.

No pleas have been entered.

The woman did not make any comments when she was leaving the court.