Sutherland Shire real estate agent’s sex abuse trial continues

A former Sutherland Shire real estate agent charged with sexually abusing a boy has emphatically denied he was obsessed with the teen when he kept dozens photos of him, claiming he was not sexually attracted to the child.

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 former Sutherland Shire real estate agent who used to work on luxury yachts has repeatedly denied he was obsessed with – and kept dozens of photos – of a teenager he allegedly sexually assaulted, a jury has heard.

The former realtor – who cannot be named due to legal reasons – is defending nine charges relating to three alleged sexual assaults when the complainant was aged 12, 13 and 17.

The crown alleges, in the first incident, the accused masturbated in front of the alleged victim and then forced the minor to masturbate him in the back seat of a car. A year later, the complainant alleges the accused performed an oral sex act on him and forced him to reciprocate. It is alleged anal penetration was then forced on the child.

The former realtor denies both of these incidents occurred.

In the third incident, the complainant alleges the former realtor entered his room, touched his penis under his bedding, then performed oral sex on him without consent before the pair had sex, for which the realtor is not charged.

The former realtor claims this incident was consensual – but also claims the boy held him down and forcefully penetrated him, which the complainant denies.

On Friday. the realtor was cross-examined at length before the jury.

The trial continues in Downing Centre. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Crown prosecutor Roger Campbell suggested the yacht worker kept photos of himself and the teenager, taken during a festival, cruise and trip to Bali, because “you are obsessed with him?”

The accused replied: “That’s false”.

The ex-realtor claimed he did not edit the photos and kept thousands of images, including of his travels and at social events, on his phone and laptop.

He answered “no” when Mr Campbell asked him about the allegations of performing oral and penetrative sex on the teenager during the second alleged assault.

“He was telling you to stop, didn’t he?” the Crown asked. “No,” the man replied.

“He was telling you it hurt, I suggest?” Mr Campbell said. “No,” the ex-realtor responded.

The yacht worker was then asked about another alleged sexual assault in the teenager’s bedroom where the man claimed he lay on the bed, before the teenager started masturbating and started kissing him and then had sex with him.

“You are making that up aren’t you?” the Crown asked. “That’s false,” the man replied.

“You just wanted to have sex with him in 2010,” Mr Campbell said. “No,” the man said.

The Crown asked the man if he was “sexually attracted” to the teen, which he denied.

At one point the man claimed he did not see the alleged victim after 2010 but proceeded to give evidence they met up on other occasions to have consensual sex, which the complainant denied.

The Crown prosecutor claimed he made up those incidents in a bid to discredit the alleged victim which the man denied.

“You never had sex with him after 2010?” the Crown prosecutor asked. “That is false,” the man replied.

The jury heard the man worked on luxury boats, starting as a deckhand and reached the position of captain.

The Crown prosecutor suggested the man was lying and only reached the level of deckhand, a claim the man denied.

‘That’s false’: ex-realtor denies attraction to 12yo accuser

A former Sutherland Shire real estate agent said he was “shocked” and “distraught” when a man who accuses him of sexual abuse messaged him angrily calling him a sexual predator.

The trial at Sydney District Court is now a week in before Judge James Bennett and a jury of 15, which will later be reduced to 12.

The defence opened its case on Thursday, where the former realtor gave evidence and corroborated much of what the jury has previously heard about how he and the complainant met through swimming and stayed connected through a mutual friend.

The former realtor also made multiple claims he had a series of consensual sexual encounters with the complainant in the years after the third incident – in a Bali hotel room, in the complainant’s bedroom, and at different gay beats in the Cronulla area.

The complainant has previously denied any of these occurred.

The former realtor said the last of these occurred in 2015 at a carpark near Greenhills Beach and he never saw or heard from the complainant again until the complainant messaged him angrily accusing him of abusing him in June 2018.

“F**k you, I’m going to kill you next time I see you, you’re in my grasp, you ruined my life you c**t,” the complainant messaged the former realtor.

However, in the former realtor’s response at the time – at which point he said he was “upset, distraught and obviously confused” – he said he had not seen the complainant since “high school”.

It is common ground that the complainant and former realtor did not attend high school together because they are five years apart in age and attended different schools in that time frame.

The complainant – who is the younger of the two – completed high school in 2010, and the jury has heard agreed facts and evidence from both the complainant and the former realtor that they continued to socialise at various events up until at least 2015, supported by photos of the pair together.

The former realtor’s claims about consensual sexual encounters also span five years after the complainant finished high school.

“I was still shocked and panicking, I replied quite fast because I thought I’ve got to try and defend myself immediately,” the former realtor said.

The former realtor clarified another detail in his response to the complainant, in which he accused the complainant of “creeping with everyone since we were 12”.

“Like a hanger on to a group, 12 is like a hyperbole,” the former realtor said.

In cross-examination, the Crown suggested to the former realtor he was sexually attracted to the complainant when he was 12 and 13, and had control over him.

“No,” the former realtor responded.

The Crown then showed the former realtor multiple photos of the complainant when he was aged 12 and 13.

“They look like they were cherry picked by his mother, he looks pretty innocent,” the former realtor said. “But he was 12, he was innocent, wasn’t he?” the Crown asked.

“As we all are, at 12,” the former realtor said.

“You took away that innocence, didn’t you,” the Crown asked.

“You’re wrong and you’re lying,” the former realtor responded.

The trial continues today.