Qld dad accused of physically, sexually abusing children gives evidence at trial

A Queensland father accused of subjecting his own two children to years of physical and sexual abuse has taken the stand at his District Court trial.

A Queensland father accused of physically and sexually abusing his own two children for years has denied any of the sexual abuse ever occurred.

The man hit back at the allegations put to the jury by the crown, choosing to give evidence on the third day of his trial at Brisbane District Court.

Earlier this week, he pleaded not guilty to a raft of serious charges, including three counts of rape.

The crown alleges the man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – sexually abused his young son and daughter for years and subjected them to physical violence, including punching, kicking and beating them.

Both children are now adults.

It is further alleged the man threatened to kill his son if he told anyone and on occasion locked his daughter in a garage closet if she did not comply.

But on Thursday the man denied any of the sexual abuse towards his children occurred.

The man gave evidence he “tried to be a proper parent” and discipline his children equally but denied punching or kicking them.

He also denied locking his daughter in a closet and hitting his son over the head with a bottle.

“Were you ever violent towards your son?” Defence barrister Simon Lewis asked the man.

“To my knowledge, no,” the man answered.

“I disciplined him … just a smack on the backside or something like that.”

He said he once grabbed his young son by the back of his hoodie while he was dancing to music on the TV and dragged him down the hallway.

The man claimed his son had been kicking him and he put him in “time out”.

He said he only smacked his daughter once but never did it again as she “cried for an hour”.

On Wednesday, the children’s mother gave evidence the man was a heavy drinker with a bad temper, who would frequently “take it out” on his son.

The man acknowledged he would sometimes “lose his temper” with the children and that his drinking got “out of control”.

“I actually went to Alcoholics Anonymous … I tried to do the right thing,” he said.

During his closing argument, Mr Lewis urged the jury to carefully approach the evidence that had been presented.

He said the length of time that had passed between the alleged offences occurring to his client going to trial needed to be considered.

The jury was told there were “real problems” with the children’s evidence - such as not providing specific dates of the alleged offending - that would cause them to have “grave doubts” about what had really occurred.

Crown prosecutor Jennifer O’Brien urged the jury to reject the man’s version of events, saying he was not a reliable or honest witness.

She told the jury the man gave inconsistent details of how often he was working and at home and when he was with his children, and was attempting to “minimise his conduct”.

“He couldn’t really answer the questions straight, you might have thought he was... trying to work out how the question might affect his case,” Ms O’Brien said.

“He answered to protect a corrupted version to account for the major pieces of evidence you have heard, such as issues with temper and drinking.”

Ms O’Brien said the children’s evidence was logical and remained reliable.

“Their entire version was plausible and… has a ring of truth to it,” she said.

The trial continues.