The mother of a 14-year-old girl has broken down in tears as she described the ‘look of horror’ on her daughter’s face after a 19-year-old rugby player allegedly engaged her in sex acts.
Connor Lind, now 23, is on trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court after denying he engaged in sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl.
He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of having sexual intercourse with a child and one count of intentionally sexually touching a child.
The Crown prosecution alleges the rugby player was 19 years old when he engaged in anal, oral and digital sex with the 14-year-old girl.
On Tuesday, the girl’s mother sobbed as she told Sydney Downing Centre’s District Court she had ‘felt sick’ after she learned about the alleged sex acts.
She said her 14-year-old daughter had initially denied anything physical took place between her and Lind but then told her parents they had exchanged ‘inappropriate photos’.
‘I was upset, I was angry, I was annoyed at myself that there’s probably signs before that I hadn’t (seen),’ the mother told the court.
When her mum ‘pressed her’ the next night, the 14-year-old disclosed that Lind had digitally penetrated her on the couch at his parents’ house.
Connor Lind, now 23, is on trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court after denying he engaged in sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl
‘I asked if she had done anything else and she said “Mum I don’t believe in sex before marriage, but I did give Connor oral sex to keep him interested”,’ her mum told the court.
She then questioned her daughter about an allegation that Lind had engaged her in anal sex, to which the teen again replied that she didn’t ‘believe in sex before marriage’.
‘I didn’t press any further but I wasn’t sure I had been told everything that night,’ her mother said.
A few days later, she told the court she had looked her daughter in the eye and asked if she knew that ‘anal sex is classed as sex’.
‘The look of horror on her face was … I’ll never forget it,’ her mother said through tears.
She said the 14-year-old divulged that Lind had performed anal sex on her but she hadn’t enjoyed it and she’d asked him not to do it again.
‘She asked me: “Does that mean I’m not a virgin anymore?”,’ her mum tearfully recalled.
The court was told that when Lind learned her parents knew about their alleged interactions, he asked the 14-year-old to delete the messages they had exchanged.
On Tuesday the jury also heard from a witness who described seeing Lind digitally penetrating the underage girl on his parents’ couch during a sleepover.
She was cross examined about whether her view of the alleged sex act had been blocked by the pair’s knees as they spooned, but she remained steadfast that she could see his fingers ‘inside’ the teen’s vagina.
Lind has been supported by loved ones in court
Lind’s barrister Lisa-Claire Hutchinson noted she hadn’t described the cast Lind had been wearing on his arm and questioned whether her eyesight was ‘the best’ at the time.
‘I know what I saw,’ the witness replied.
She told the court that she only requires glasses for long distances and her eyesight was ‘fine for when (the alleged sex act) was that close’.
The witness texted her mother ‘he’s got his hands down her pants’ and ‘I can hear s**t’.
‘I was embarrassed and ashamed that that was happening next to me,’ she told the jury.
Lind has denied having any sexual contact with the 14-year-old girl or a 15-year-old girl with whom he is accused of engaging in sexual acts in his car.
The 15-year-old girl previously told the jury he had kissed her and put his hand down her pants to touch her vagina.
She said Lind, who was 20 years old at the time, had offered to pull down her underwear and had asked her for ‘just one lick’.
The Crown prosecution alleges the rugby player was 19 years old when he engaged in anal, oral and digital sex with the 14-year-old girl
The teen recalled saying ‘no’ more than once but told police ‘it kept going’.
Her friend testified the teen had told her later that night that she ‘got with’ Lind and revealed ‘a hickey on her chest’ as proof.
The 15-year-old’s mood was ‘just normal, probably a bit down’ when she was relaying the information, her friend said.
Lind was arrested in August 2021 and does not deny knowing that the girls were 14 and 15 at the time.
Ms Hutchinson has argued that at the time her client was a promising rugby union player and university student and he had ‘every reason to uphold the law’.
The trial continues before Judge John Pickering on Thursday.
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