Sibara Baragud faced charges of grooming and indecent treatment of a child under 16 in Cairns court

The defendant’s team said ‘a terrible misjustice is possible’, and just before lunch on Friday the jurors advised they could not come to a unanimous verdict.

After deliberating for some hours, a jury of 11 was unable to come to a unanimous verdict in a case being tried this week in Cairns District Court.

During the trial’s summing up, jurors were told the complainant was lying.

Sibara Baragud, who appeared in court with the assistance of an interpreter, pleaded not guilty on the first day of the trial to two charges of indecent treatment of a child under 16, and one of grooming a child under 16.

Defence counsel Bridie Bilic told the jury that “the easiest place to plant a lie is in the middle of the truth, and that is what I suggest the complainant has done here”.

“A soft-hearted man is a soft target,” she said.

“You heard about gift giving being a part of (Mr Baragud’s) culture,” Ms Bilic told the jury. “That it is not sinister, it is in keeping with the strong community, and in keeping with Mr Baragud who is a gentleman, being a product of that community, a good kind man who would do anything for anyone.

Mr Baragud’s defence counsel Bridie Bilic referred to “hot button topics” and suggested the complainant had lied. The jury was not able to reach a unanimous decision. Picture: Brendan Radke

“This is exactly the type of case where a terrible misjustice is possible.”

She told the court the Crown case rested on just one witness, and there was a danger that some complainants believe what they say, “even if they are wrong”.

She told jurors “hot button topics don’t have a place in this trial”.

“You need to be far more analytical than the leap of faith the prosecution would have you make,” she said.

The court was told earlier in the trial that Mr Baragud allegedly indecently touched a 14-year-old before asking if she wanted to go into a shed with him.

Offers allegedly made

A few weeks later on April 27, the defendant arrived at the family home around 10am, when he allegedly called the girl over and made a number of offers to her, which constituted the grooming charge, the court heard.

Crown prosecutor Claudia Georgouras told the court Mr Baragud had offered the girl a dog, $50, and also said he wanted to play with her.

Part of Ms Bilic’s defence rested on the issue of dog ownership, and that “buying” a dog was a foreign concept to the people of Mr Baragud’s community.

They would share a litter of puppies, but the notion of buying an animal from a petshop was a concept foreign to the community. It was perhaps more familiar to a person from outside the community, Ms Bilic told the court.

She spoke of a “lens of discontent”, and that the girl might have made a false complaint.

“There are a number of reasons why she might have made a false complaint,” she said.

“Life on the island harks back to a different era ... How would a modern teen cope with this?

“Life involved no car, patchy internet at best, two little sisters with parents at home, where the water tasted terrible, and her view was the dad did not want to be there.”

She said Mr Baragud had answered to the charges and “his answer is simple, he is not guilty.” The jury was unable to return a unanimous verdict and the date for a new trial has yet to be announced.

Originally published as Sibara Baragud faced charges of grooming and indecent treatment of a child under 16 in Cairns court