‘I’ll teach you thing or two’

Horse riding instructor committed to stand trial for alleged abuse of teens

A GOLD Coast horse riding instructor accused of raping a teenage girl, sexually assaulting another and grooming a third has been committed to stand trial in the Southport District Court.

The instructor allegedly told one of the girls he should “bend you over” the front of a car to “teach you a thing or two”.

The man is alleged to have sexually abused and harassed the girls when they were 14 and 15 and attending the horse riding facility on the Gold Coast.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was committed to stand trial on 18 charges including rape, sexual assaults, carnal knowledge of a child under 16, indecent treatment of a child and grooming.

During a single-day committal hearing, the Southport Magistrates Court was told the man put his hand down the pants of one girl and raped her.

He also allegedly put his hands down the back of her pants when they were at a lookout.

“I felt embarrassed and I felt as though I couldn’t say anything,” the girl told the court yesterday.

The girl made a complaint to police but later withdrew it due to mental health issues, the court was told.

Police had also allegedly tried to find another person the girl had told but were unsuccessful.

The girl was contacted by police and made the complaint official last year after another girl had gone to police with allegations of abuse by the same man.

The court was told the girl did not know the other girls who made complaints.

A third girl told the court the man often made her feel uncomfortable with sexually charged comments.

She said he would often sit with girls’ feet in his lap and give them massages.

The girl said she remembered stopping on the side of the road with the man when he made a comment to her.

“He said, ‘It wouldn’t hurt for me to bend you over the car and teach you a thing or two’,” she said.

The girl said even though the man made her feel uncomfortable, she did not report the incidents to her mother because she wanted to keep going to the facility to see the horses.

She said the man at one stage told her he would be open to a sexual relationship with the girl but she would have to be the one to instigate it.

The man is set to stand trial in the district court in the coming months.