Alleged child rapist tries to have charges struck out

A court has been told of missing camera footage and the possibility of false allegations in the case of a man charged with raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter.

The legal representatives of a man accused of sexually abusing his stepdaughter have applied to have his charges permanently struck out after a court heard allegations of missing video footage and “false complaints”. Photo: Tracey Joynson

The legal representatives of a man accused of sexually abusing his stepdaughter have applied to have his charges permanently struck out after a court heard allegations of missing video footage and “false complaints”.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with two counts of rape and one count of indecent treatment of a child, his step daughter.

Hervey Bay District Court heard on Monday the child was 12 when the alleged offending began in 2021, and that she had provided a statement regarding the allegations.

But there had also been an “uncharged act” the girl spoke of, where she made allegations the man had gone into her bedroom during the night, the court was told.

The man was later confronted about that allegation.

“As a consequence of discussions with the applicant, the complainant’s mother had installed a set of cameras within the house itself,” the court heard.

“There was a camera that was positioned in a way within the house that would capture the entry and exits to the bedroom, they were motion-sensored cameras.”

After the installation of the cameras, the girl made a complaint to her mother during the course of the night that the man had entered her bedroom and sexually offended against her, the court heard.

After a confrontation with him, the mother used her iPhone to review the camera footage and was unable to find any footage showing him entering the room.

The legal representatives of a man accused of sexually abusing his stepdaughter have applied to have his charges permanently struck out after a court heard allegations of missing footage and “false complaints”.

There had been some speculation as to whether the man could have deleted the footage, but ultimately there was no evidence of that, the court heard.

In another instance the court was told the girl was getting ready for a party when she alleged the man raped her in the bathroom.

Her mother had external cameras installed, and following the complaint she looked at the footage.

She has seen the girl and man leaving the house, the court was told, with the footage being provided to the police.

In a statement from the girl’s mother, she said she recalled another allegation involving an incident in the pool.

She said the girl had been in the pool with her siblings and that the man had touched her in the pool below the waterline so “no one could see”.

She told the man about the allegation and he denied it, the court heard.

The external camera footage was checked and the mother said in her statement that there had been no opportunity for the man to touch the girl in the way that was suggested.

The court heard the officer who took the statement had been made aware of the footage “took no steps to obtain that footage in any way”.

The officer later gave evidence at the committal proceedings that the incident wasn’t the subject of a complaint by the girl, so there was no basis to obtain the footage.

The court heard the case “hinges entirely on the honesty and reliability of the complainant”.

“The officer has made a conscious decision knowing that there existed at the time, in my submission, evidence capable not only of being exculpatory, but also suggestive of the complainant having made false complaints about sexual touching, which needs to be looked at collectively.”

The footage of the alleged pool incident was no longer available, the court heard.

Concerns were raised regarding whether the man would be able to have a fair trial as a result of the issues that had been noted.

The matter was heard before Judge Gary Long, who said he would need to consider his decision.

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Originally published as Alleged child rapist tries to have charges struck out