Closing Arguments Made In Case Of A Man Accused Of Five Counts Of Indecent Assault Against A 14-Year-Old Girl

By Alric Lindsay

A man accused of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl will learn the verdict later this week, after closing submissions before Justice Palmer in the Grand Court today, August 19, 2026.  The trial was heard by judge alone this week and concerned five allegations of indecent assault.

Crown Counsel from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions submitted that four of the five counts involved alleged touching that was sexual, while the fifth concerned an indecent assault by kissing, to be viewed against an alleged course of conduct.

The court heard that the complainant had described the man touching her intimately and pressing himself against her. The case, DPP Crown Counsel said, turned on the credibility of the complainant, supported to a lesser extent by a second prosecution witness. Addressing a suggestion that the account had been fabricated — said to be linked to a wish for greater freedom at home — DPP Crown Counsel submitted it was undermined by the evidence, and that there was no apparent incentive to lie.

For the defence, Prathna Bodden emphasised the high standard of proof and warned against allowing sympathy to displace it.

Bodden suggested there were inconsistencies between the accounts of the complainant and the second prosecution witness, including whether that witness was in the bed when an incident was said to occur, or heard it from elsewhere, and submitted that the acts described could not have taken place, in a small shared bed, without waking that witness, who said she had seen nothing.

The second witness, Bodden argued, was “effectively not a witness,” having only heard sounds and having adopted the complainant’s account of matters she did not herself witness.

Bodden also took the court to the complainant’s recorded interview. Bodden noted that when the girl was asked about telling a lie, and what happens to those who tell lies, she appeared “uncomfortable,” and there was a “pause” before the officer put the question to her again — material, Bodden said, from which the court could assess her demeanour.

Repetition, Bodden submitted, was not corroboration: continually telling a lie, and repeating the same account to one person and then another, did not make it any more true.

Bodden indicated that the man, who did not give evidence but relied on a police interview, calmly denied the allegations.

Bodden highlighted that, upon examination of the whole of the evidence presented by DPP Crown Counsel, the court could not be sure and the burden of proof was not satisfied.

Justice Palmer reserved judgment. The verdict is expected on August 21, 2026.

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The details of the allegations were set out in the indictment as follows:

Count 1 — on July 19, 2025, indecent assault by rubbing his penis against her vagina.
Count 2 — on August 1, 2025, indecent assault by rubbing his penis against her vagina.
Count 3 — between June 23, 2025, and August 1, 2025, indecent assault by touching her vagina.
Count 4 — between June 23, 2025, and August 1, 2025, indecent assault by touching her breast.
Count 5 — between June 23, 2025, and August 1, 2025, indecent assault by kissing her.
 
This case is subject to orders made by the trial judge, Palmer J (Actg.), in open court. Nothing can be published to directly or indirectly identify the names of the complainant, the man and any witnesses.