Girl ‘hid to avoid rape’
A GIRL, 9, hid under her bed to try and escape her mother and men being bought into her room to rape her, a court has heard.
The girl’s mum, who legally cannot be named, is on trial in Southport District Court for multiple charges including rape, indecent treatment of a child, deprivation of liberty and maintaining a relationship with a child.
The defence says the accusations are an elaborate story helped by the girl’s father to help in a nasty custody battle.
It is alleged the mother bought men into the girl’s bedroom while she slept and held the girl’s hands raped her.
On at least one occasion the mother allegedly dressed the girl “like a playboy bunny” in a frilly dress with bunny ears.
The girl allegedly heard the mother talking to the men about money.
The alleged incidents are said to have happened while the girl’s father was in prison between May 2014 and May 2015.
In summing up, Crown prosecutor Judith Geary read from the a transcript of the girl’s interview with police: “Once I hid under my bed because I didn’t want them to find me,” she said.
“I wanted them to think I had run away. But they found me anyway.” while men
The allegations were first bought to light when the girl wrote a note to a Headspace psychologist saying her mother had taken her friends into her room and “touched her inappropriately”.
Defence barrister Jann Taylor, instructed by Howden Saggers Lawyers, told the jury the word “inappropriate” was not one many nine-year-old girls would use without coaching.
She also pointed to evidence from other family members which told the court the girl’s happy demeanour had not changed during the period of time the alleged incidents were said to have occurred.
The trial is expected to conclude today.