Sutherland Shire real estate agent’s child abuse trial continues

A man who accuses a former Sutherland Shire real estate agent of sexually abusing him on three occasions over five years has said how he was frozen and scared during the alleged incidents.

A pixelated image of a former real estate agent from the Sutherland Shire who is on trial for child sex offences in July 2023.

A man texted a former Sutherland Shire real estate agent and called him a “f**king predator” before he finally broke down and made allegations he had been sexually abused to his family, a court has heard.

The former realtor – who cannot be identified – has been charged with nine offences in relations to allegations he sexually abused a boy on three occasions in 2004, 2005 and 2010.

The boy was then aged 12, 13, and 17 when the alleged incidents occurred.

The former realtor has pleaded not guilty to all nine offences and is facing trial before Judge James Bennett at Sydney District Court.

The complainant – now a man in his 30s – gave an emotional account of the alleged abuse via audiovisual link before the court on Thursday.

The Downing Centre courts. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

During the first incident in 2004, the Crown alleges the former realtor exposed himself to the boy and forced the boy to masturbate him in the back of a car in Cronulla.

The former realtor denies this incident occurred.

The complainant became overwhelmed during his account of this alleged incident, visibly shaking as he gave his evidence.

“He said ‘don’t stop, I’m nearly there’ – I stopped, I didn’t want to do it,” the complainant said.

“I felt like I had to do it, I was pressured in that situation.”

In the second incident in 2005, the Crown alleges the former realtor performed oral sex on the boy, forced the boy to give him oral sex, convinced the boy to try and anally penetrate him, and then penetrated the boy’s anus with the tip of his penis.

The former realtor also denies this incident – in the fire stairs at the boy’s parents’ home – ever occurred.

The Downing Centre courts. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

During his evidence about this incident, the complainant continued to visibly shake and breathe heavily.

“(The realtor) put me onto my knees and put his penis in my face, it was pushed into my face and forcefully into my mouth,” the complainant said, before becoming too overwhelmed to continue and taking another break.

“I was frozen, I didn’t want to do it.”

The complainant then described the pain and fear he felt when the man allegedly penetrated him.

“As he was pushing in I was telling him stop, no, it hurts, he kept trying and I was telling him no,” the complainant said.

“It hurt a lot, there was a lot of pain.”

In cross-examination, the former realtor’s barrister Mr Stewart suggested to the complainant that he had invented the allegations about the incidents in the car and the fire stairs.

“I disagree,” the complainant said.

In the third incident when the boy was 17, the Crown case is that he entered the boy’s bedroom at his parents’ home, touched his penis under his blankets while he was half asleep, and then performed oral sex on the boy without his consent.

The pair then had intercourse, for which the former realtor has not been charged.

The complainant says this incident was not consensual – while the former realtor says it was consensual, and many other consensual sexual encounters occurred in subsequent years.

“Why did you let him convince you,” the Crown asked the complainant.

“I don’t know, I felt that sort of pressure that he had over me, I was scared, I didn’t know what to do, I just went along … I felt scared, in shock.”

The complainant told the court his distress came to a head in June 2018, when he had been at a friend’s 30th birthday and he was walking home early in the morning.

The court heard the complainant sent the former realtor a Facebook message calling him a “f–king” predator and accusing him of ruining his life.

The complainant then made the allegations he had been abused to his parents and sister after they woke up to find him sobbing and distressed.

He made a complaint to police in a process which spanned from August to November 2019 before the former realtor was charged in May 2020.

The trial will continue on Friday.