Tearful mum recalls alleged abuse of child by swim coach James Henk Daniels

After watching a lyrical kids cartoon with her family, one mother was shocked to hear her daughter claim she had been sexually abused by her Sydney swim coach, a jury has heard.

Giving evidence in the Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday, the mother said her child alleged instructor Kyle James Henk Daniels had inappropriately touched her while she took lessons at a Mosman swim school.

 Former swimming teacher Kyle Daniels is on trial for allegedly sexually touching nine of his students

The young girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said the coach had put his hands inside her swimming costume and touched her groin in 2018.

After saying she couldn’t say no to Daniels because he was a teacher and ‘he had his hands inside her,’ the mother gave her child some frank advice.

‘I said, “Well, you just scream – you say no and you scream for mummy and daddy”,’ she told the jury.

Under questioning from defence barrister Les Nicholls, she admitted she had not clarified what her daughter meant when she said his hands were inside her.

‘I didn’t clarify exactly because I didn’t mean to ask any leading questions … I felt it was more important that she explained it to the police.’

The 23-year-old coach faces 21 charges of inappropriate conduct towards nine underage female students while he worked at the swim school.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is now facing a retrial over the alleged offences which include touching girls on the outside of their swimming costumes to penetrating their vaginas on five separate occasions with his fingers.

Daniels is accused of sexually touching his students at Mosman Swim Centre (pictured) on Sydney´s north shore between 2018 and 2019

After the swimming centre emailed parents in March 2019 about the arrest of one of their instructors, the mother sought advice from her child’s school about how to discuss the situation in the right manner.

She was directed to the Pantosaurus video, an online musical animation which starts with the line, ‘What’s in your pants belongs only to you.’

During the video, which was played to the jury, the mother was visibly distressed and was brought to tears.

After watching the clip twice at home, she said her daughter had revealed the alleged abuse, adding that she had tried to tell this to her parents previously.

‘What was worse was the fact that she said she’d tried to tell me what had happened,’ the mother said, again tearing up.

The hearing continues.