Man denies he abused cousin, 6, in her bed
A GOLD Coast man crawled into bed with his six-year-old cousin and touched her inappropriately after a night of drinking, a court on the Gold Coast has been told.
The 31-year-old pleaded not guilty in the Southport District Court yesterday to three counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12.
The girl’s mother said her cousin, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been drinking with her family and decided to stay over on June 18, 2016.
She said her daughter came into her room a short time after her cousin had left.
“(The girl) came running in and told me that she just needed to sleep with me,” the mother said.
The woman said her daughter was “shaky, sweating and crying”.
The next morning, the girl told her the man, her uncle, came into her room, sat on her, shone a torch into her eyes and then touched her inappropriately, the court was told.
The girl’s mother said she went to police that day where she recorded a phone call with her cousin.
During the call, which was played to the court, the man admits to getting into the girl’s bed.
But he repeatedly denied touching her.
“This has to be a nightmare,” the man said on the call from his sister.
“I love your kids … I didn’t do anything.”
Crown prosecutor Stephanie Gallagher told the jury in her opening address that the girl had alleged the man took pictures on his mobile phone that night.
Police searched the man’s phone and found pictures had been taken the night of the incident but that they had been deleted, the court was told.
“He told (the girl) if she told anyone she would get hurt,” Ms Gallagher said.
The trial is due to continue today.
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