Kyle Daniels trial: Sydney COVID outbreak halts Mosman swim coach case
The trial of Kyle Daniels has ground to a halt because the coronavirus outbreak in Sydney’s north has stopped a juror from being able to deliberate on the remaining allegations.
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The coronavirus outbreak in Sydney‘s northern beaches has halted the trial of Mosman swim coach Kyle Daniels by preventing the already divided jury from being able to reach a verdict on allegations of child sexual abuse.
It comes a day after the 22-year-old was acquitted of five of the most serious of 26 charges.
Daniels is on trial in the NSW District Court after pleading not guilty to abusing nine girls, all aged five to 10-years-old in the pool at Mosman Swim Centre between 2018 and 2019.
The jury tasked with deciding his fate retired on Thursday morning and spent just 90 minutes considering the six weeks of evidence before sending a note to Judge Kara Shead SC saying they were deadlocked.
After being sent back out the jury returned not guilty verdicts on four counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged seven and not guilty to an alternate charge of assault with an act of indecency.
Daniels nodded slowly and closed his eyes as each not guilty verdict was read out.
None of the other 21 charges were agreed on by the jurors, however.
The deadlocked jury were sent home early on Thursday and were expected to resume deliberations on Friday morning but Judge Shead said the jury could not convene because one member lives in the area caught up in NSW‘s latest coronavirus outbreak.
Judge Shead told the jury that one of their members was not sick but had been told by the government they were unable to journey into the city to join the 11 others in deliberations.
The court heard a second juror has an interstate flight to catch on Friday evening and would not return until after Christmas and other jurors were not able to deliberate past next Wednesday.
That verdicts for the remaining 21 charges against Daniels will not be reached until the jury can convene again.
Daniels was cleared, on Thursday, of charges relating to one young girl who said she‘d felt Daniels’ finger digging in her private areas during a swimming lesson.
Other allegations of abuse, made by that same girl, are among the 21 remaining charges against him.
Daniels‘ twin brother, Liam, returned to court on Friday to support his brother along with their parents.
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