A jury has cleared a Canberra father of incest against his young daughter.
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The 52-year-old, who cannot be named, was clearly emotional, gasping and putting his head in his hands as he was cleared of molesting the girl when she was aged six and seven-years-old.
He stood trial before Justice Richard Refshauge in the ACT Supreme Court this week, charged with six offences - sexual intercourse with a minor and five acts of indecency - from May to December in 2012.
The young girl spoke of the alleged crimes with police a number of times and her pre-recorded evidence was played to the jury.
But her father fought the accusations, saying they simply did not occur.
The man had split up with his wife, and the pair were informally sharing custody of the girl at the time.
She was scared of the dark, and had at times slept with the man in his bed at two homes he lived in during 2012.
He told the court he had remembered enjoying a nice weekend with the girl early last year, taking her to a movie, and for burgers and slushies.
The next week, police had turned up on his doorstop, telling him his daughter had accused him of sexually abusing her.
The father told the court earlier this week the allegations had shocked him.
‘‘I just said to myself 'you haven’t done this ... but what’s going on, what’s the motivation behind this?’ ’’
The man’s barrister, James Lawton, also called evidence from a child memory expert, who raised concerns the girl had previously levelled unsubstantiated allegations at her grandfather.
A jury took more than eight hours to return its verdict before the ACT Supreme Court.
The man was acquitted of all counts and discharged by the court about 12.40pm on Thursday.