Lollipop man Michael Hyde blames his poor eyesight for making child videos

Michael Cyril Hyde, 60, is on trial in the District Court accused of eight child sex offences against five young children between 2011 and 2016.

<b>WARNING: This story contains graphic content.</b>

A lollipop man accused of filming himself repeatedly sexually abusing young children – including a baby girl – says there was “nothing sexual” in his behaviour.

Michael Cyril Hyde, 60, is on trial in the District Court charged with persistently engaging in sexual conduct and producing child exploitation material involving five young children between 2011 and 2016.

Mr Hyde is accused of repeatedly abusing a baby girl from when she was aged one to four, and making sexual recordings of her elder sister while he babysat them.

He had befriended the girls’ mother while working as a primary school traffic warden in the western suburbs.

Prosecutors also allege Mr Hyde persistently molested two sisters from another family when they were both six and seven years of age, and made child exploitation material involving their brother, who was the same age.

Giving evidence today after the jury spent more than two days in a closed court watching dozens of videos depicting the alleged abuse, Mr Hyde said there was “nothing sexual” in what they had seen.

Mr Hyde claimed the two six-year-old sisters had an autoimmune deficiency that resulted in “lesions” on their bodies.

Asked about video recordings that showed Mr Hyde touching one of the girl’s genitals and exposing her to the camera, he said he was trying to examine a lesion in the area to check if it was infected.

“These children have been touched for their health, to make sure when they go to the toilet, it doesn’t hurt,” he said.

“I have to work out what’s wrong, because if something is wrong, that child would … be going to hospital.”

Mr Hyde said on one occasion he used the camera because he had poor eyesight and “I need it to be blown up”.

“I see everything soft … on the view finder with the camera, you can see it larger,” he said.

He denied getting any sexual gratification from touching the children, describing some of his actions as “just playful” behaviour.

“When you have got a six-year-old child … you don’t look at them as sexual objects, they have a chest … you don’t break things down to vagina and breasts,” he said.

The prosecution case relies heavily on the video recordings found by police on Mr Hyde’s computer an electronic devices after his arrest in April 2016.

“These video recordings, the State would say speak for themselves,” prosecutor David Jubb said on Tuesday.

The courtroom was closed to the public while they were played. Police also uncovered more than 26,000 child pornography videos and images downloaded from the internet, which Mr Hyde pleaded guilty to possessing.

The jury was told 178 videos and 328 images were categorised as the worst type of material, which can involve sadism, bestiality and child abuse.

Mr Hyde will continue giving evidence next week.

Originally published as Lollipop man Michael Hyde blames his poor eyesight for making child videos