Verdict expected Wednesday in child sexual abuse case
Warning: this story contains disturbing details
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | 1:00 PM NT
CBC News
A judge is expected to rule Wednesday on whether a man is guilty of a half dozen sex-related charges.
Thomas Molloy, 49, is facing two charges of sexual assault, two charges of sexual interference and two charges of invitation to sexual touching against a woman whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
During Molloy's trial earlier in the fall, the woman said she was assaulted by Molloy many times when she was a child, between January 1996 and December 1999. She said the abuse went on from the time she was eight until she was 10 years old.
Molloy is accused of a broad range of abuse — from touching the girl in a sexual manner to having anal intercourse with her, while other younger children were in another room, just metres away.
The woman told the court that the accused initially exposed himself to her and then told her to perform oral sex on him. She said Molloy told her to keep what they were doing a secret.
"[He said], 'You don't want me to get into any trouble.' I said, 'No,' and he said, 'Then you can't tell anyone'," the woman told the court.
Crown and defence lawyers made their final summations on Monday.
Molloy's lawyer, Mike King, told the court that what the woman is claiming is "unfathomable" and "unbelievable." Molloy would have been "reckless" to do the things he is accused of doing with other people around, King argued.
However, Crown attorney Shawn Patten told the court that the plaintiff was believable because she didn't "embellish" the events and that "she recalled many incidents of intercourse but couldn't remember the details."
Patten also told the court that the girl was "afraid" of Molloy and that he was in "control." He also reminded the court that Molloy has a conviction for sexually assaulting a girl of about the same age as the plaintiff was during the same time period.
In that case, Molloy pleaded guilty to touching the girl sexually and admitted he told her not to tell anyone about the incident.
