A rugby player and cheerleader sent a photo of his penis to a 15-year-old girl and asked her for nude photos before he allegedly sexually assaulted her in his car, a court has been told.
Connor Lind, 23, is facing 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.
On Monday, the jury was told Mr Lind had sent a photo of his penis to the 15-year-old girl and asked her for nude photos of herself before he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
23-year-old Connor Lind faced the charges at Sydney ‘s Downing Centre District Court
In her prerecorded testimony played to the court on Monday, the then-teen said she had received the picture on Snapchat.
‘I was shocked,’ she said.
‘I didn’t expect it.’
The complainant said she couldn’t remember ever ‘being flirtatious, purposely flirtatious, towards (Mr Lind).’
The court was told the 15-year-old later found herself alone in a car with Mr Lind, who she claims kissed her and put his hand down her pants.
She said the then-20-year-old had touched her vagina and offered to pull down her underwear before asking her for ‘just one lick’.
‘Please,’ the complainant said Mr Lind asked her.
She told police ‘I was just like ‘no’, and it kept going’ in an interview referenced in court.
When pressed by Mr Lind’s barrister Lisa-Claire Hutchinson on whether she had verbally objected, the complainant remained adamant she had said ‘no’ more than once.
‘I said no but I can’t remember how many times,’ the complainant said.
She said she afterwards regretted not physically intervening by doing something like ‘pushing him away’ when Mr Lind touched her.
‘Looking back and realising what happened, I felt sick and I regretted everything,’ the complainant explained.
Mr Lind was 20 years old at the time of the alleged incidents with the teenage girl
Mr Lind with his barrister Lisa-Claire Hutchinson outside of court today
The 15-year-old had been a ‘bit tipsy’ but ‘not drunk’ at the time of the alleged sexual acts, her friend told the court.
The friend said the complainant told her later that night that she and Mr Lind had ‘hooked up’ in his car and showed a hickey on her ‘lower chest’ as proof.
The complainant testified she had told her friends that she said ‘no’ to Mr Lind’s alleged sexual advances, but her friend said she couldn’t remember that detail in their conversation.
The friend agreed with Ms Hutchinson’s suggestions that she probably would have remembered the complainant telling her the sex acts were non-consensual and it could have prompted her to tell a parent.
The complainant had been ‘pretty neutral’ when telling her friends about the alleged sexual acts with Mr Lind, her friend told the court.
Mr Lind has denied having any sexual contact with the 15-year-old or a 14-year-old girl with whom he is accused of having sex.
The Crown prosecution alleges he engaged in anal, oral and digital sex with the underage girl when he was 19 years old.
Mr Lind is also accused of putting his hand down the 14-year-old girl’s pants while they were spooning on the couch at his parents’ house.
A witness told the court they had been having a sleepover when she ‘heard noises’ and looked over to see Mr Lind’s hand between the girl’s legs.
The trial will continue at the Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday
In texts read out in court, the witness told her mum that the 14-year-old was ‘on top of him’ before telling her ‘he’s got his hands down her pants’.
‘I can hear s**t. I’m shaking,’ she wrote.
Her mother responded it was ‘twisted’ and came to collect her.
Mr Lind was arrested at Sutherland Police Station 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 will continue before Judge John Pickering on Tuesday.
