Sibara Baragud pleads not guilty on day one of trial in Cairns District Court to three charges against girl

A groundsman is accused of grooming a young girl who “pretended to be sick” following his advances, a trial in Cairns heard.

A groundsman is accused of grooming a young girl who “pretended to be sick” following his advances, a trial in Cairns heard.

Sibara Baragud pleaded not guilty to two charges of indecent treatment of a child under 16 and one of grooming a child under 16 with the intent to procure a sexual act on Monday.

The court was told the defendant, 59 at the time, worked as a groundsman at a school.

The defendant would take the girl and her sisters to the rubbish tip to get second-hand things, and he would offer to give them a lift home if he saw them around.

The court heard Mr Baragud visited the girl at home and gave her a necklace for her birthday.

The case is being heard in Cairns District Court before Judge Judge Brad Farr SC.

The court was told he indecently touched her before asking if she wanted to go into a shed with him. She said no and went inside the house.

A few weeks later, the defendant arrived at the family home, when he allegedly called the girl over and made a number of offers to her, which constituted the grooming charge, the court heard.

Ms Georgouras told the court he offered her a dog, $50, and also said he wanted to play with her. She allegedly said maybe in the afternoon, but when he returned she pretended to be sick.

A week later he again offered her $50, after which the girl told her parents.

Defence counsel Bridie Bilic acknowledged what was alleged to have occurred sounded “pretty horrible”.

“No one is here to argue about that, but your job is to decide if those things happened,” she told jurors.

She told them the defence case was simple, that those things “did not happen”. She asked them to consider whether the girl’s evidence would “stack up” against the other evidence in the trial.

The case is being heard before Judge Brad Farr SC.

Originally published as Sibara Baragud pleads not guilty on day one of trial in Cairns District Court to three charges against girl