Kyle Daniels faces jury before nine alleged victims give evidence
Kyle Daniels’ alleged offending against nine children were was so similar there could be no coincidence, police say, but his own lawyers say the investigation was a “disgrace.”
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
More than two dozen allegations of child sexual abuse, made against Mosman swim teacher Kyle Daniels, have been revealed to a jury after nine separate young girls told police their instructor touched or “dug into” their genitals beneath the water.
But Daniels’ legal team has accused the lead police detective of changing evidence and confecting a media circus against an innocent young man, denouncing the investigation as “a disgrace”.
Daniels, 22, is facing a jury trial in Sydney after pleading not guilty to 26 charges stemming from allegations he abused children during swimming lessons at Mosman Swim Centre.
The jury, on Monday, saw a pink post-it note bearing the words scrawled by a girl in February 2019 that had the final word blanked out with a line.
“The reason I didn’t like my swimming lesson was because my teacher touched my _____”, the note to her mother reads.
“You’ll hear evidence from the girl that the line there should be ‘vagina’” Crown Prosecutor Karl Prince said at the trial’s opening on Monday.
“The accused touched her vagina.”
The jury were told they’d hear from nine young girls who all say Daniels touched them on or near their genitals between February 2018 and 2019.
Six months before the note was written, the court heard, the mother of a different girl told centre bosses her seven-year-old had complained about the way Daniels was holding her in the pool.
“She stopped swimming and the accused was holding her up in the water with one hand on stomach and another (hand) from behind so that his hand and arm went between her legs,” Mr Prince said.
Daniels allegedly touched her vagina through her swimmers for a few minutes, the court heard.
The girl’s mother was happy for the centre to investigate the complaint internally in case it was an innocent “mistake” and bosses decided to watch Daniels conduct his next lesson.
They concluded he was “too hands on”, made too much “close contact” and was “overly energetic and friendly” with his students, Mr Prince said.
The court heard the bosses spoke with Daniels who said something to the effect of he didn’t believe he had touched the girl that way and, if he had, it may have been an accident.
Daniels signed a document indicating his bosses had counselled him on his coaching and a memo was issued to all staff in August 2018 reminding them of how to handle children in the pools.
“DO NOT HOLD CHILDREN CLOSE TO THE GROIN OR CHEST AREA,” the memo said in bolded capitals, the court heard.
The centre’s instructors, including Daniels, signed the memo and returned it to the bosses.
Police arrested Daniels in March 2019 and the media attention that followed, the jury heard, prompted multiple parents to come forward.
In the first few weeks of the investigation, police allege, nine girls in total would say Daniels either touched their genitals by “pushing them” after correcting their technique or would put his fingers inside them.
Prosecutors are hoping the similarity of the accusations is what will convince the jury Daniels carried out multiple attacks right in front of other children, instructors and parents.
“The Crown says it is no coincidence,” Mr Prince said, saying Daniels was not clumsy or accidental in his behaviour.
“The Crown case is that the accused has a tendency to have a particular state of mind - a sexual interest in female swim school students aged between five and 10-years-old.
“Further, the Crown Case is that (Daniels) has a tendency to act on that sexual interest despite a high risk of detection.”
Daniels’ barrister, Leslie Nicholls, said Mosman Swim Centre had multiple high-definition cameras covering the pool and other instructors could find nothing untoward in the footage they reviewed.
“He has never knowingly or intentionally touched any complainants in a sexual or indecent or unlawful manner whatsoever,” Mr Nicholls told the jury.
The barrister said it was “regretful” that, given his own long career as a criminal investigator, he felt the lead police officer in the Daniels case had influenced the alleged victims.
“The role she played and the media circus created by her, during the course of this trial, you will see how it inappropriately and unfairly influenced the child complainants,” he said.
Mr Nicholls said the officer had made “subtle suggestions” to complainants and he would show the jury evidence proving it.
“It’s not just me saying it, you will have documents and you will have clear unequivocal evidence where things parents have said have changed to make a body part a vagina,” he said.
“It really was a disgrace and I can assure you, by the end of the evidence in this trial, I will show you unequivocally what has been done to this young man.”
Daniels’ legal team said the jury should question the police version of events that the swim coach inserted multiple fingers inside the young girls, as they swam past, with no “physical complaint or reaction”.
“MY TEACHER TOUCHED MY ————”
A young girl had just finished a lesson with swimming coach Kyle Daniels when she allegedly scrawled a note to her mother - “the reason I didn’t like my swimming lesson was because my teacher touched my ______” a jury has heard.
Daniels, 22, is facing a jury trial in Sydney after pleading not guilty to 26 charges stemming from allegations he abused children during swimming lessons at Mosman Swim Centre.
The jury, on Monday, saw a pink post-it note bearing the words scrawled by the girl in February 2019 that had the final word blanked out with a line.
“You’ll hear evidence from the girl that the line there should be ‘vagina’” Crown Prosecutor Karl Prince said at the trial’s opening on Monday.
“The accused touched her vagina.”
The jury were told they’d hear from nine young girls who all say Daniels touched them on or near their genitals between February 2018 and 2019.
Six months earlier, the court heard, the mother of a different girl told centre bosses her seven-year-old had complained about the way Daniels was holding her in the pool.
“She stopped swimming and the accused was holding her up in the water with one hand on stomach and another (hand) from behind so that his hand and arm went between her legs,” Mr Prince said.
MORE NEWS
Union’s ‘gouging’ puts major NSW works at risk: Builders
NSW teachers asked to keep quiet on gender fluid students
ABC accused of false reporting in $52m lawsuit
Daniels allegedly touched her vagina through her swimmers for a few minutes, the court heard.
The girl’s mother was happy for the centre to investigate the complaint internally in case it was an innocent “mistake” and bosses decided to watch Daniels conduct his next lesson.
They concluded he was “too hands on”, made too much “close contact” and was “overly energetic and friendly” with his students, Mr Prince said.
The court heard the bosses spoke with Daniels who said something to the effect of he didn’t believe he had touched the girl that way and, if he had, it may have been an accident.
Daniels signed a document indicating his bosses had counselled him on his coaching and a memo was issued to all staff in August 2018 reminding them of how to handle children in the pools.
“DO NOT HOLD CHILDREN CLOSE TO THE GROIN OR CHEST AREA,” the memo said in bolded capitals, the court heard.
The centre’s instructors, including Daniels, signed the memo and returned it to the bosses.