Child sex accused’s stepfather denies also raping alleged victim

The stepfather of a woman accused of raping and indecently treating a young girl in the Jehovah’s Witness church has “adamantly” denied raping the girl himself, a southeast Queensland court has heard.

The stepfather of the woman accused of raping and indecently treating a young girl in the Jehovah’s Witness community has “adamantly” denied raping her himself, the Gympie District Court has heard.

The stepfather of the woman accused of raping and indecently treating a young girl in the Jehovah’s Witness church has “adamantly” denied raping the girl himself, the Gympie District Court has heard.

The man took to the witness stand as the trial against his stepdaughter, now aged in her thirties, continued into a sixth day in the court on Tuesday, July 20.

The woman, who cannot be named under a non-publication order, took the stand herself to defend the 11 charges against her on Monday, July 19.

On Tuesday, the man, also a member of the JW community at the time, vehemently denied questions that alleged he woke the victim while she was staying at their house, took her outside the house and raped her some time during his stepdaughter’s alleged offending.

He told prosecutor Katrina Overell that he was “angry” at hearing suggestions he had assaulted the girl and threatened he would rip the cords out of the hospital wall, where her sick father was staying, if she told anyone.

The man also denied Ms Overell’s suggestion that he had once called his stepdaughter a “headcase”, instead saying that “every father” gets frustrated with their teen daughters.

He said he never noticed any “segregation” among the children from either his family or the alleged victim’s, any time the two families were together.

He said the children would all play together, and he did not notice the defendant and the alleged victim spending time separate from the rest of the children.

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No charges were ever laid against the man, and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on his part.

Detective Senior Constable Melissah Rose from the Gympie Child Investigation Unit told the court on Monday no charges has been laid against the man because there was insufficient evidence and gaps in the girl’s memory owing to the number of years between the time it allegedly happened and her recollection of events.

On Monday, the woman denied Ms Overell’s suggestions she had “monopolised” the girl’s time and was “possessive of her”, and that the girl had “grown to dislike her” and “hated” her.

The trial continues on Wednesday in the Gympie District Court.

Originally published as Child sex accused’s stepfather denies also raping alleged victim