‘He would make my life hell’: Tweed Heads man on trial for alleged sexual relationship with 10yo

Shocking allegations a Tweed Heads man hired to care for a disabled father violated the man’s trust by sexually abusing his 10-year-old daughter.

The Tweed Heads man is charged with sexual relationship with a child under 16. ​

A Tweed Heads man hired to care for a disabled father instead violated the man’s trust by sexually abusing his 10-year-old daughter, a Lismore court has heard.

A Lismore District Court trial centring on a Tweed Heads man, now 55, facing historic sexual abuse allegations spanning the years 1994-2000 started on Tuesday.

The man is charged with engaging in persistent sexual abuse of the child, from the ages of 10 to 15, with another seven further charges of a specific nature relating to the abuse.

He has pleaded not guilty to all eight charges.

The court heard the man first met the child when her father, who was confined to a wheelchair, hired him to be his carer.

In his opening to the jury, the Crown prosecutor said in the man’s role as carer, the child came to “depend on the accused” for his support to her father and herself.
The alleged victim, now in her 30s, was the first to give evidence to the jury, also alleging the man took on “somewhat of a primary caregiver” position.

The court heard the woman’s first sexual encounter with the man she called Papi occurred just hours after meeting him in May, 1994.

According to her, the man abused her outside her home while her father slept.

She was just 10 years old.

“I gasped, I was in pain, I think he told me to ‘just keep going’ or (said) nothing,” she said.

She alleged the abuse continued on a fairly regular basis over the next six years, revealing she lived in fear of what would happen if she didn’t perform the sexual acts.

“He would ask for it, I would get down on all fours and just say ‘hurry up’,” she said.

“He would make my life hell otherwise.

“He wouldn’t feed me and he would tell me I wouldn’t have a childhood.”

It is not alleged the victim’s parents knew about the abuse at the time.

The man’s lawyer, Simon Apps, kept his opening address to the jury brief as he prepares to further cross-examine the alleged victim on Wednesday.

“All I’m asking you at this stage is to keep an open mind,” he said.

“Yes, he was the carer for a number of years to the father, but at no stage did a relationship … evolve into a sexual relationship.

“Yes, they lived in the same house but he will emphatically deny any of these sexual offences took place.”

Mr Apps said he would allege the girl was “jealous” of the closeness between her father and the accused.

During the opening day of the trial, the jury also heard a police recorded conversation the alleged victim and the accused had in February 2017, following her filing a report to Tweed Heads police.

The jury is expected to hear from a number of witnesses over the course of the trial, including childhood friends, a child sex abuse psychologist and several current and former police officers.

The trial will continue in Lismore District Court and is expected to last four days.