A MAN has been found not guilty of child sex charges after a District Court jury in Broken Hill deliberated for half-an-hour on Friday.
The 38-year-old man was charged with one count of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child aged between 14 and 16 years old, and one count of intentionally sexually touching a child aged between 10 and 16 years old.
The one week trial in Broken Hill concluded on Friday, March 21.
The offences were allegedly to have taken place in a fast-food venue in Broken Hill where the teenage girl was working an after-school job in early 2023.
The girl alleged the accused, outside of the charges, touched her about 20 times throughout his time as her supervisor.
Since both counts were grouped together, presiding Judge Peter McGrath warned the jury in his summary to not go with a decision just for convenience.
“Do not let convenience override justice, just because the matters have been tried together,” he said.
Judge McGrath also urged the jury to leave emotion out of the case.
“A teenage girl working an after school job alleges an adult married man did sexual acts to her,” he said.
“You cannot act on emotional type responses, or who you might feel sorry for.”
Judge McGrath said the jury had to be confident in every element of the accusations, asking the jury to consider if – for count one – they believed the touching was intentional and of a sexual nature beyond a reasonable doubt.
For the second charge, he urged the jury to break their decision down into multiple elements; that intercourse did occur, her age was between 14 and 16 years old, and that she was under his authority – relating to the ‘aggravated’ element of charge.
Judge McGrath also reiterated key findings of witness cross-examination, such as the store’s manager stating the alleged complaint from the victim to him – concerning accused inappropriate behaviour – did not happen, and the victim’s friend who was aware of the alleged inappropriate touching.
