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A jury will retire on Thursday to determine whether a former Wollongong police officer committed sexual crimes against a teenage girl.
Malcolm George Cox faced trial in Wollongong District Court this week, charged with two counts of sexual intercourse with a person under 16. He has pleaded not guilty.
The alleged crimes occurred in Corrimal in the 1980s, when Cox was a police officer in his early 20s.
It was not in dispute that Cox and the alleged victim had sex on two occasions in the 1980s.
But the Crown said the alleged victim was 14 or 15 when this took place, and if Cox believed otherwise, it was not reasonable for him to do so.
The defence contended that she was 16 or older, and if she was not, Cox honestly and reasonably believed she was older.
Cox started working for the police force in 1986 and met the girl when she was shoplifting at markets in the Wollongong area.
During his closing address on Wednesday, the Crown prosecutor played a snippet of a recording that the alleged victim made when she spoke to Cox at a Bunnings store, during the police investigation.
In the recording, the woman can be heard talking about being "13, 14" and referring to them having sex, and Cox replying, "You were 15" and that he "remembered checking".
The prosecutor said it was clear this was a conversation about the pair having sex.
Referring to comments Cox made about feeling guilty and that he'd taken advantage of the alleged victim, the prosecutor told the court the defendant said this because he knew she was underage.
The prosecutor said Cox's reference to checking the alleged victim's age meant he did not have an honest and reasonable belief she was 16 or older.
The alleged victim committed a break-in in early 1988, when she was 15, and she gave evidence to the court that she had sex with Cox before this occurred.
Defence barrister Sharyn Hall asked the jury to consider the evidence in the context of Cox's character.
"Honest, humble, salt of the earth. Loved and respected by his community... That's the way Mr Cox was described," Ms Hall said.
She said a document showing the alleged victim was charged with an offence in the Wollongong area after she turned 16 allowed for her to have had sex with Cox when she was of a legal age.
This was consistent with what he had told police, Ms Hall said, that he believed she was 16 or 17 and the sexual contact occurred a few years after he met the alleged victim.
She also said the alleged victim gave evidence she told police officers she was a different age, and never discussed her age with Cox.
Ms Hall said Cox admitted he knew she wasn't 18 despite seeing her in a nightclub, but he did think she was 16 or 17.
"That's a frank concession by him," she said.
Ms Hall also told the jury that in the recorded conversation at Bunnings, Cox said they met when the girl was 15. Listening to that recording, she said, he genuinely held that belief that she was 15.
Ms Hall said older people would know when someone was very young but her client was only in his early 20s at the time and the difference in age between him and the alleged victim would "not have been so stark".
Cox was charged with a third offence of sexual intercourse with a person under 16 but Judge Andrew Haesler directed a verdict of not guilty on this count due to a lack of evidence.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
