Illawarra father with dementia found not guilty of abusing daughters

The man, given the pseudonym Jones, was accused of carrying out the abuse which also involved acts of indecency between December 1980 and December 1983 in homes in Bulli and Corrimal.

Judge Andrew Haesler found Jones unfit to be tired last year before a three-day special hearing was conducted from October 18 in lieu of of a criminal trial.

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In a published judgement on Friday, Judge Haesler said he had to determine whether on the limited evidence available if Jones committed one or all of the 12 serious charges.

Counts one to three relate to his younger daughter while the nine remaining counts were allegedly committed against his older daughter.

The court heard the older daughter told her mother about the alleged abuse in 1985 but did not formally report it to police until 2018, while the younger sister did not make a compliant until after her sibling.

The daughters gave evidence and were cross examined on the alleged incidents, before other witnesses were called to testify.

Judge Haesler noted when handing down his verdict that the delay in reporting the allegations and the subsequent decline in Jones' cognitive capacity impeded the ability of Jones' lawyers to defend him by testing the prosecution evidence or bringing forward evidence in his own case, to establish a reasonable doubt about his guilt.

"While there are many reasons why a child or adult may delay in coming forward, and threats at the time are a very real reason, no reason was given for the long delay after she (the older daughter) became an adult," he said. "The delay means that evidence cannot be as fully tested as it otherwise might have been.

"In 2021 after a delay of over 38 to 40 years there were few contemporary materials produced and few objectively established facts. Rather, I had to assess the subjective accounts of multiple witnesses."

Judge Haesler also noted that there were similarities in the accounts given by each complainant but the younger sisters' evidence disclosed "a real risk she has tailored her account to that of her sister".

He said after closely scrutinising the evidence given by the younger sister, it revealed "discrepancies and additions apparently on the spur of the moment".

"While I understand she may have mixed up in which order events occurred and which bed an incident happened, her evidence about crying and the muffling of her cries gave the impression she was making things up in anticipation of criticism or challenge," Judge Haesler said.

"While it is possible each event occurred I could not be satisfied to the very high standard required that counts one to three have been proved beyond reasonable doubt."

Furthermore, Judge Haesler said the older sibling gave "convincing evidence of each individual instance among a pattern of regular behaviour".

"There were no apparent embellishments or attempts to portray her father in a worse light than that revealed," he said.

"However, little other detail was provided that might have enabled the accuracy and reliability of her accounts to be tested.

"I am prepared to accept, on the limited evidence available, that there is a real possibility there were assaults with acts of indecency committed by Jones on [his daughter] at both Bulli and Corrimal.

"Whatever Jones did to [her] in 1981, 1982 and 1983 occurred too long ago for me to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt about what actually happened or that any specific event occurred as alleged."

The father was found not guilty and discharged.

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