Waratah-Wynyard councillor Darren Fairbrother accused of exposing himself at Boat Harbour

A man accused of flashing beachgoers has told a court his buttocks were exposed when his shorts were pulled down after getting caught on a rock, exposing his g-string. LATEST >>

UPDATE, 6pm Tuesday, November 30: A BOAT Harbour businessman and local councillor has told a court a female holidaymaker and her son may have seen his buttocks on a beach in January because he was wearing a g-string but he did not expose his genitals to them.

Waratah-Wynyard councillor and accommodation owner Darren Fairbrother is on trial after pleading not guilty to a charge of prohibited behaviour in relation to the alleged incident on Boat Harbour Beach.

Crown prosector Kate Brown, her magistrate husband Simon Brown and their two teenage sons were holidaying in Boat Harbour in January this year, as they had done every January for more than a decade.

Mrs Brown told police Cr Fairbrother stood on a rock near where they were and removed his towel to expose his genitals. She gave evidence he performed the lewd act three times in a row.

Mr Fairbrother took to the witness stand on Tuesday and told visiting Magistrate Teresa Anderson he did not flash at the woman but the pair may have seen his buttocks after his shorts got jagged on a rock, pulled the outer garment down and exposed his g-string.

“Did you at any time on the beach that day expose your genitalia?” Cr Fairbrother was asked by his defence counsel Paul Sullivan.

“No, I did not,” he said.

He told the court the distance between them was about 70m – double what the Brown family said in evidence – and they would not be able to see anything in detail from that far away.

Cr Fairbrother also claimed in evidence that Mr Brown told him – after a decision was made to report the alleged incident to police – that he “knew who he was and he was going to bring him down”.

The hearing will continue in January or February when Magistrate Anderson can return to Tasmania.

Boat Harbour beach in the state’s North-West. Picture: Tourism Tasmania/Pete Harmsen

UPDATE, 2:30pm Tuesday, November 30: A woman who house sat a Boat Harbour property in 2016 has told a hearing she found a local councillor spread eagled on the beach naked and with an erection.

Lee-Anne Foster has been called as a tendency witness in a hearing into a charge of prohibited behaviour against Waratah-Wynyard councillor Darren Fairbrother.

Cr Fairbrother has pleaded not guilty in relation to an alleged incident on the same beach last summer in which prosecutors claim he had flashed his genitalia at a woman and her son three times.

The complainant in that matter Kate Brown, who is a crown prosecutor, told the court her family had stayed at Boat Harbour every January for more than a decade and she found the allege lewd episode creepy and a “bit pathetic”

Ms Foster said she had enjoyed Cr Fairbrother’s attention when she first met him in the popular seaside holiday spot.

She told Magistrate Teresa Anderson she then found out he was married and decided to cut the friendship short.

She said she had gone to the beach one day and found Cr Fairbrother laying on the sand “like a star” with an erect penis.

He said “come on you know you want it,” Ms Foster said in evidence.

“I told him to put his clothes on because he was embarrassing himself and then I left,” she said.

“I felt uncomfortable and embarrassed. He was a councillor and I was a visitor. I went straight up the beach and told people about what had happened.”

Under cross examination Ms Foster denied she had organised to meet him on the beach that day.

Ms Foster did agree she remained in contact with Darren Fairbrother after the alleged incident in regard to his role as a councillor because she had tendered to run the nearby Boat Harbour cafe.

UPDATE, 6.30pm Monday, November 29: A crown prosecutor who was allegedly flashed three times by a Tasmanian councillor on a North-West beach has told a magistrate the incident was “creepy, weird and a bit pathetic”.

Waratah-Wynyard councillor Darren Fairbrother has pleaded not guilty to a charge of prohibited behaviour in relation to the alleged lewd incident on Boat Harbour beach in January.

Kate Brown, her husband Magistrate Simon Brown and their two sons were staying at a property at the popular beachside town as they had done every January for the past 13 years.

Cr Fairbrother’s defence counsel Paul Edwards suggested to Mrs Brown and one of her sons that what they saw on January 6 was a man in a g-string with exposed buttocks.

She denied that suggestion saying they could clearly see his genitals and he was standing facing them.

Visiting South Australian Magistrate Teresa Anderson was told Cr Fairbrother opened his towel three times while standing on a rock naked.

“There was no mistaking it was intentional,” Mrs Brown said.

“The towel was completely open and he was staring directly at me.

“I didn’t react and I think that’s why he did it again.”

Cr Fairbrother owns a property near the beach.

Simon Brown said he had gone to the beach later on and was told by his wife that the man sitting on a big rock on the beach had “flashed at us”.

“He was about 30m away. Kate was quite taken aback by what had happened and told me later she might report the incident to police,” he told the court in evidence.

“I decided I would just make my presence felt to the bloke. I looked at him and hung around for a minute. I was going to say ‘keep your clothes on mate’ but he didn’t make eye contact.”

Mr Brown said in evidence he then went to Cr Fairbrother’s property to take a photo of his car registration.

The court heard he found him on a ride-on lawn mower in different clothes and wearing a helmet with a visor and a face mask.

“He said he had been there mowing not down at the beach. I said ‘that’s crap, mate, you flashed at my wife’,” Mr Brown said.

“I could see very little of his face. I told him to take off the mask and he said he could not because he had a cold sore.

“At this point I was annoyed. I said ‘don’t bother, I know who you are, this is going to be reported to police’.”

The trial continues.

12.40pm Monday, November 29:

A Tasmanian local government identity has been accused of repeatedly exposing his genitalia to a woman on Boat Harbour beach last summer.

Waratah-Wynyard councillor Darren Fairbrother has pleaded not guilty to a charge of prohibited behaviour.

The complainant and first witness in a hearing in the Burnie Magistrates Court is Kate Brown — a crown counsel with the Department of Public Prosecution.

She told the court her family stayed in a property at Boat Harbour every January.

She gave evidence that on January 6 this year she was on the beach when Cr Fairbrother, who is understood to own a neighbouring property, stood on a rock and held his towel out, spread his legs and exposed his genitalia.

Mrs Brown said it happened on three occasions.

In evidence she said another lady on the beach, a local resident, later identified the man she pointed out as Cr Fairbrother.

The hearing continues today.