Toowoomba jury clears stepdad of child sexual abuse claims

A man accused of sneaking into his stepdaughter’s room late at night has been found not guilty of molesting her two years prior.

Toowoomba Courthouse, Toowoomba court generic, Monday, June 2, 2025. Picture: Kevin Farmer

A man accused of sneaking into to his young stepdaughter’s room two years after allegedly abusing her on the family couch has been found not guilty of child sexual abuse.

A Toowoomba man who pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12, under care has been cleared of all charges by a jury of his peers.

The three day trial in Toowoomba District Court heard accusations the man had molested his then 10-year-old step daughter at her mother’s home.

Crown prosecutor Perian Cardiff said the girl accused her stepfather of repeatedly trying to pull down her pants while lying on the couch beside her then rubbing his finger inside her mouth.

That day, the girl’s mother was asleep in bed at the time of the alleged incident.

The court heard the girl told her mother of the alleged abuse two years later when she claimed she saw her stepfather crawl out of her room after trying to lift the bed covers off her body.

Ms Cardiff told the jury the girl felt scared to tell anyone of her alleged abuse as she knew her mum was in love with the man and thought she would be mad.

In her testimony, the girl’s mother said her daughter was never reluctant to spend time with her stepfather.

“She adored him, she loved him,” the mother said.

“He was great, he’d do everything a dad would do.”

The woman alleged when she confronted her partner about her daughter’s accusations, he attempted to hurt himself with a nearby wooden pole.

“(He looked) like he’d just lost everything – in his face,” the woman said.

“He didn’t try to hit himself again, he was just sort of defeated.”

Defence barrister Clare Hurley questioned inconsistencies within the mother’s and daughter’s testimonies.

Ms Hurley said the girl’s evidence did not support her claims, stating it was not logistically possible for him to have abused her in the way she described given their supposed positioning on the couch and timeline of events.

“It didn’t happen, (her evidence) was unreliable,” Ms Hurley said.

She added, even if an interaction occurred between the two that night, it was not indecent treatment.

“If it did occur, there is no positive suggestion in this case that her genital area was exposed at all,” Ms Hurley said.

“Was it the case that someone was pestering her, trying to get her attention, trying to get a rise out of her, playful fun or something?”

Ms Hurley stated, while movement’s like #MeToo had done “many good things for victims”, the jury must only consider the evidence as it stood before them.

“The true state of things is, returning a not-guilty verdict in a criminal trial is a sign, realistically, that the evidence did not support a guilty verdict,” she said.

“You may like the complainant, you may want to believe her but you may still have problems with her credibility and reliability, inconsistencies, and other matters of the evidence that impact whether or not my client has been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The jury deliberated for around an hour and a half before delivering their decision.

Originally published as Toowoomba jury clears stepdad of child sexual abuse claims