- Rugby player denies allegations of sexual abuse against teenage girls
- Connor Lind is accused of having anal, oral and digital sex with one girl
- He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him
A promising young rugby player allegedly performed sex acts on two underage girls, a jury has heard.
Connor Lind, 23, is on trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court after pleading not guilty to a series of alleged sex offences against two teenage girls.
The Public Prosecution Service claims that he had anal, oral and digital sex with a girl who was 14 years old at the time. The court was told this on Wednesday on the first day of his trial.
He also denies putting his hand down the same girl’s pants while sitting on his parents’ couch on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Prosecutor Peter Lowe told the court the allegation was supported by a witness who saw the incident and immediately texted her mother.
The girl was in eighth or ninth grade at the time of the alleged crimes, the court was told.
The jury was shown part of the girl’s first police interrogation on Wednesday afternoon, during which she occasionally burst into tears.
Mr Lind has denied through his lawyer Lisa-Claire Hutchinson having had sexual contact with the girls.
Connor Lind denies performing sexual acts with underage girls
He pleaded not guilty to four charges of sexual intercourse with a child and to one charge of intentional sexual contact with a child.
One of the sexual assault charges involves a second accuser, who was 15 years old at the time.
The court was told the charge relates to allegations he kissed the girl before putting his hand down her pants while they were in his car on Dee Why beach.
“It all happened so fast, he just started kissing her,” Lowe told the jury during his opening statement on Wednesday.
The girl was “too scared” to stop him during the incident, Lowe said.
Mr Lind was arrested at Sutherland Police Station in August 2021. Mr Lind does not deny knowing the girls were 14 and 15 at the time.
However, Ms Hutchinson argued that Mr Lind was a promising rugby player and student at the time and that he had ‘every reason to uphold the law’.
He denied performing sexual acts with any of the alleged victims, the court was told.
The 23-year-old rugby player denies a series of sex offences in NSW court
An alleged victim claimed she was ‘too scared’ to try to stop him
Mrs Hutchinson told the jury the evidence from one of the girls – with whom he allegedly performed four sex acts – was “not based on the truth”.
He also denied kissing or touching the 15-year-old girl.
“He never kissed her, he never touched her, not that night, never,” she said.
The trial before Judge John Pickering continues on Thursday.
