- Rugby player denies sex charges against teenage girl
- Connor Lind is accused of having anal, oral and digital sex with a girl.
- He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
A promising young rugby player has been sentenced to a jury on charges of having sex with two underage girls.
Conor Lindh, 23, is on trial at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court, having pleaded not guilty to a string of sexual offences against two teenage girls.
Prosecutors alleged he had anal, oral and digital sex with a girl who was 14 at the time, according to a court filing on the first day of trial on Wednesday.
He also denied allegations that he put his hand down the trousers of another girl while sitting on the sofa at her parents’ home on Sydney’s northern beaches.
Prosecutor Peter Lowe told the court that the claim was supported by a witness who saw the incident and immediately texted his mother.
According to the court, the girl was in the eighth or ninth grade at the time of the alleged crimes.
The jury was shown portions of the girl’s first interview with police on Wednesday afternoon, in which she broke down in tears at times.
Mr Lindh denied through his lawyer, Lisa Claire Hutchinson, that he had any sexual contact with the girls.
Connor Lindh denies having sex with underage girls.
He pleaded not guilty to four counts of having sexual relations with a minor and one count of intentionally sexually touching a minor.
One of the sexual assault allegations involved a second plaintiff who was 15 years old at the time.
According to the court, the indictment relates to allegations that he kissed the girl before putting his hand down her pants as they sat in a car at Dee Why Beach.
“It all happened so fast,” Judge Lowe told jurors in his opening statement Wednesday. “He just started kissing her.”
Mr Lowe said the girl was ‘too scared’ to try to stop him at the time of the incident.
Mr Lind was arrested at Sutherland Police Station in August 2021 and did not deny knowing the girls were aged 14 and 15 at the time.
But Mrs Hutchinson argued that at the time Mr Lindh was a promising rugby union player and university student and had ‘every reason to comply with the law’.
The court heard he denied having sexual relations with either victim.
The 23-year-old rugby player has denied a string of sexual offences in the NSW Local Court.
One of the judges claimed he was ‘too scared’ to try to stop the victim.
Mrs Hutchinson told the jury that the testimony of one of the girls accused of sexually assaulting her on four occasions was “lacking in truthfulness.”
He also denied kissing or touching the 15-year-old girl.
“He never kissed her, he never touched her, not that night, not ever,” she said.
The trial before Judge John Pickering continues on Thursday.
