Mum storms out of Kyle Daniels trial after questioning
The mother of one of swim coach Kyle Daniels’ alleged victims stormed out of court in Sydney on Tuesday, but not before she defended inconsistencies in her police statement.
Police & Courts
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Six girls have now given evidence before a jury that Kyle Daniels touched them inappropriately beneath the water of Mosman pool as the high profile trial hits the halfway point.
The allegations made by Daniels’ oldest alleged victim - a 10-year-old girl - came after another girl’s mother stormed from the courtroom during questions about her six-year-old’s alleged abuse at the hands of the swim coach.
Daniels, 22, is facing trial in the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to 26 indecent and sexual child abuse charges relating to nine young girls.
Interviews with the fifth complainant, who like the others cannot be named, were played to the jury late last week and continued on Tuesday.
The young girl previously told police, in one interview shortly after Daniels’ arrest in March 2019, that the swim coach had pulled at the swimmers around her private area while instructing her in the pool.
A recorded interview with a sixth girl was also played to the jury on Tuesday.
She made allegations mirroring parts of what the previous five children had said - that Daniels touched her in the pool while correcting her form.
The 10-year-old said she was touched by Daniels on the vagina while giving her a push off in the pool on multiple occasions.
“It felt a bit weird,” she said
“I didn’t really feel that comfortable.”
The girl told police in March 2019 that Daniels “helps me, holds me down there”, touching her while she swims.
Daniels is facing four charges relating to the sixth girl including intentional sexual touching of a child aged 10 to 16.
Earlier in the day the mother of the fifth girl told the court she remembered speaking with her daughter about “private parts” and touching after seeing Daniels’ arrest on the news.
The court heard the mother asked her daughter if Daniels had ever made her uncomfortable.
Her daughter said she had been touched while she sat on the swim coach’s lap.
The girl indicated Daniels had touched her on the vagina, the mother told the jury.
The mother said she asked the girl why she hadn’t brought it up before and her daughter became emotional, visibly uncomfortable and upset.
The jury heard the girl used the word “secret” and “private” to describe the way Daniels allegedly touched her.
“I told her there’s no secrets from mummy,” the mother said, recounting how she held her daughter to sooth her.
The jury heard the mother was in shock hearing her daughter claim she had been touched by Daniels.
“My brain is on fire,” she said.
“I’m hearing my daughter talk about this and I’m like - no - I’m incredulous.”
The woman said she couldn’t sleep and, instead, took down notes of the conversation and contacted police.
She handed those notes to police after her child was interviewed that week, the mother said.
Under repeated questioning from Daniels’ barrister, Leslie Nicholls, the mother agreed there were details in her police statement that were not in her notes from that evening.
The mother said her original notes, written around midnight in the moments after her daughter first spoke up, were for her own memory.
“At this time I’m not writing (my notes) for a courtroom, I’m writing it for myself because I’ve got no one else,” she said.
“I’m freaking out, my daughter’s just told me she’s been touched by her swimming teacher.”
The woman’s voice began to break, she told the court she was becoming “very upset” and walked quickly from the court room.
In a second recorded interview, shown to the jury earlier on Tuesday, the daughter said she couldn’t back up her previous claim that Daniels was inappropriately touching children “all over the world”.
The girl appeared to agree with Daniels’ barrister Gabi Bashir SC that Daniels had not touched her vagina.
“I agree he didn’t touch my privates but he touched me,” the girl said under cross-examination a year after her original complaint to police.
“Is it the truth that nothing except swimming happened in swimming lessons?” Daniels’ barrister asked the girl.
“Yes,” she responded.
The girl said Daniels had touched her near her privates.
Minutes later, however, the girl reiterated that she had been sitting on his lap when Daniels “touched me inappropriately”.
Much of Daniels’ defence focuses on precisely which body part each girl first claimed the swim coach touched them.
The jury were previously told the word “bottom” was changed to “vagina” between the initial complaint to police and the final sworn statements from at least one girl.
Both prosecutors and the defence have probed each witness and their parents about where they allegedly felt Daniels’ hand.
The evidence of the sixth alleged victim is expected to continue on Wednesday.
MUM STORMS OUT OF DANIELS COURTROOM
A mother has stormed out of the trial of Kyle Daniels after repeated questions about her daughter’s allegations against the swim coach telling the jury she felt like her “brain was on fire” when her six-year-old first spoke up.
Daniels, 22, is facing trial in the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to 26 indecent and sexual child abuse charges relating to nine young girls.
Interviews with the fifth complainant, who like the others cannot be named, were played to the jury late last week and continued on Tuesday.
The young girl previously told police, in one interview shortly after Daniels’ arrest in March 2019, that the swim coach had pulled at the swimmers around her private area while instructing her in the pool.
The mother of the fifth girl, on Tuesday, told the court she remembered speaking with her daughter about “private parts” and touching after seeing Daniels’ arrest on the news.
The court heard the mother asked her daughter if Daniels had ever made her uncomfortable.
Her daughter said she had been touched while she sat on the swim coach’s lap.
The girl indicated Daniels had touched her on the vagina, the mother told the jury.
The mother said she asked the girl why she hadn’t brought it up before and her daughter became emotional, visibly uncomfortable and upset.
The jury heard the girl used the word “secret” and “private” to describe the way Daniels allegedly touched her.
“I told her there’s no secrets from mummy,” the mother said, recounting how she held her daughter to sooth her.
The jury heard the mother was in shock hearing her daughter claim she had been touched by Daniels.
“My brain is on fire,” she said.
“I’m hearing my daughter talk about this and I’m like — no — I’m incredulous.”
The woman said she couldn’t sleep and, instead, took down notes of the conversation and contacted police.
She handed those notes to police after her child was interviewed that week, the mother said.
Under repeated questioning from Daniels’ barrister, Leslie Nicholls, the mother agreed there were details in her police statement that were not in her notes from that evening.
The mother said her original notes, written around midnight in the moments after her daughter first spoke up, were for her own memory.
“At this time I’m not writing (my notes) for a courtroom, I’m writing it for myself because I’ve got no one else,” she said.
“I’m freaking out, my daughter’s just told me she’s been touched by her swimming teacher.”
The woman’s voice began to break, she told the court she was becoming “very upset” and walked quickly from the courtroom.
In a second recorded interview, shown to the jury earlier on Tuesday, the daughter said she couldn’t back up her previous claim that Daniels was inappropriately touching children “all over the world”.
The girl appeared to agree with Daniels’ barrister Gabi Bashir SC that Daniels had not touched her vagina.
“I agree he didn’t touch my privates but he touched me,” the girl said under cross-examination a year after her original complaint to police.
“Is it the truth that nothing except swimming happened in swimming lessons?” Daniels’ barrister asked the girl.
“Yes,” she responded.
The girl said Daniels had touched her near her privates.
Minutes later, however, the girl reiterated that she had been sitting on his lap when Daniels “touched me inappropriately”.
Much of Daniels’ defence focuses on precisely which body part each girl first claimed the swim coach touched them.
The jury were previously told the word “bottom” was changed to “vagina” between the initial complaint to police and the final sworn statements from at least one girl.
Both prosecutors and the defence have probed each witness and their parents about where they allegedly felt Daniels’ hand.
The cross examination continues.
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