SUPREME COURT Man’s Trial On Charge Of Attempted Incest

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32215, 6 February 1970, Page 10

SUPREME COURT Man’s Trial On Charge Of Attempted Incest

The trial began in the Su- ' preme Court yesterday, and will continue today, of a 37-year-old man who is charged with attempted' incest with his 13-year-old daughter or, alternatively, with indecently assaulting her, dh or about October 29 last.". The accused—whose name Mr Justice Wilson .suppressed in the interim—has pleaded hot guilty on both counts, and is defended by Mr R. A. Young, with him Mr K. N. Hampton. He is being tried by an all-male jury, the defence having challenged all five women jurors called for empanelment. ' The Crown brought evidence of two previous alleged attempts by the accused at sexual familiarity with his daughter—which evidence was admissible, said the Crown Prosecutor (Mr B. McClelland), as rebutting the accused’s assertion of an innocent association, and showing a “guilty passion” for his daughter. It was put to the girl, in cross-examination, that all the incidents of which she had complained had been made up, or imagined out of a desire to “get even” with her father, who was living apart from the family and associating with another woman—but the witness averred she was telling the truth.’ His Honour, on an application for the suppression of her name, said that to be effective, this must also include that of the accused—and made a formal order, suppressing the names of all the family (three of whom gave evidence), and that of the accused in the interim. The Crown Prosecutor, in a long opening address, said that the accused had been living apart from his wife, but about 12.1 S a.m. on October 29 had called to see her—when there was discussion (about a divorce—and spent

the night at her house, sleeping in a room occupied by the 13-year-old complainant, who was sharing a bed with a younger sister. About 6 a.m., the elder girl would say, the accused got into bed with them and although she kept "belting” him attempted to have intercourse with her, and then told her "not to tell anyone”—but the girl did tell her mother, at 7.30 a.m., by which time the accused bad left the house.

Two or three days later, said Mr McClelland, the wife saw her husband, at which time the police happened to arrive, as a result of the complaint which had been laid. The accused, noting their arrival, asked if it was “about the daughter,” and when told so, begged her “not to can him” and that he had not meant to do what he had done.

The accused, said Mr McClelland, admitted to Detective Sergeant D. N. Scott that he had got into bed with his daughter, but claimed that he loved her as a father, that he often gave her “a cuddle in bed,” and that no such incident as alleged had taken place. The girl, however, would give evidence of two previous attempts by her father at sexual intercourse with her—evidence admissible as showing a “guilty passion” by the accused for his daughter. The girl gave evidence along the lines of the Crown’s address.

Evidence was also .given by the accused’s wife—who said that he was a good father “apart from his sexual weakness” —another of the accused’s daughters, and by Dr J. S. Wilson and Dr L. L. Treadgold. At this stage, the trial was adjourned to this morning, with the Crown still having two witnesses to call.