Mother of alleged victims probed in trial of swimming teacher

The mother of two girls allegedly sexually touched by their swimming teacher has been probed in court by his lawyer.

The mother of two alleged victims of a Sydney swimming teacher who is accused of sexually touching some of his child swim students has been grilled in court over the reliability of her evidence.

Kyle Daniels, 23, is accused of sexually touching nine girls he taught at the Mosman Swim Centre on Sydney’s lower north shore between 2018 and 2019.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard from two sisters who both said Mr Daniels touched them inappropriately when they were aged six and eight.

Mr Daniels has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.

On Tuesday the girls’ mother continued to give evidence, including recounting being told by her daughters of the alleged sexual abuse.

Defence barrister Leslie Nicholls probed whether the mother had been influenced by information she received from police about her daughters’ statements.

The mother (not pictured) of two of Mr Daniels’ alleged victims has been grilled in court over evidence of her daughters’ alleged sexual assaults. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA NewsWire

“Did (police) at any time after the children had been interviewed and before you made your statement say to you that one of your children had told police their swim teacher had touched her in her private parts?” Mr Nicholls asked.

“And that the other child had told police that she’d been touched on the vagina?”

The mother replied to both questions, “possibly”.

Mr Nicholls also questioned the reasons behind the mother’s statement being changed from saying Mr Daniels had touched her daughter on the “bottom” to on the “vagina”.

The mother was asked at what stage she gave her first statement to police, to which she replied she wasn’t sure.

“I wasn’t sure whether or not the meeting we’d had when we first took the girls in was equivalent to a statement,” she said.

“I’ve never been through this process before.”

At one stage, Mr Nicholls appeared to reprimand the witness for speaking over him, which raised an objection from the other side of the court.

“Did I just ask you to stop three or four times? Did you totally disregard my request?” Mr Nicholls said.

Judge Kara Shead reminded Mr Nicholls it was her job to control witnesses.

To which he replied, “Yes, it is.”

The former swim teacher is standing trial over 21 charges relating to sexually touching nine young girls who he taught at the Mosman Swim Centre in Sydney. Picture: Gaye Gerard / NCA NewsWire

Mr Daniels has plead not guilty to five counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged under 10, eight counts of sexual touching of a child and eight counts of indecent assault, including two considered alternative charges.

He is accused of touching the girls – who were all under 10 years of age – both on top and underneath their swimming costumes and sexually penetrating girls with his finger on five occasions.

Last week the court heard prerecorded testimony from two of the alleged victims.

“He accidentally touched my part that you’re not allowed to. He did it twice,” one of the girls said.

“He might have just done it by accident. Because why would he want to do it on purpose?”

The complainant said it made her “uncomfortable” and that she didn’t want to continue the lesson, but also didn’t want to make things “awkward”.

The trial continues.