A man accused of sexually abusing a friend's daughter throughout her teens says he wasn't living in Canberra when one of the incidents allegedly took place.
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Michael Alan Gillard is on trial in the ACT Supreme Court accused of abusing the girl at his Canberra home between the 1992-93 Christmas holidays and 1999-2000.
The 57-year-old has pleaded not guilty to an 18-count indictment of sexual offences - some alternatives to others - which the prosecution had alleged occurred during holiday periods when the complainant was aged between 11 and 18 years.
But the man's barrister, Ken Archer, tendered yesterday a copy of the man's military service record which suggests Gillard was not posted to the territory until January 1995.
The accused man told the court he did not move into the rental property where the incidents allegedly took place until about a month or two later.
The jury was also shown a bank statement from June 1995 bearing the Canberra address and a phone bill dating back to November the previous year listing a NSW address.
And Gillard said the first time the alleged victim and her sisters came to visit him in Canberra was in January 1997.
He rejected a Crown suggestion the girls might have come to visit him as early as January 1996, and argued he was working at the time.
The first allegation on the indictment states Gillard committed an act of indecency on the girl between late 1992 and early 1995, but subsequent charges have later dates.
Gillard admitted the girl performed oral sex on him while her younger sister was in the room during a visit in January 1999, when the older girl was aged 17.
He is accused of having sexual intercourse without consent in relation to the incident, but has argued the alleged victim consented.
The accused man is also charged with committing an act of indecency on the younger girl over the same event.
The defendant admitted taking nude photographs of the complainant at one stage, but denied anything of a sexual nature taking place before or after early 1999.
Gillard also said he did not view himself as an ''uncle'' or ''unofficial godfather'' to his friend's daughters.
''Not so much a protector, I just witnessed a couple of times where [the father] had raised his hand to [the complainant] and actually hit her over the head, and I didn't appreciate it,'' he told the jury.
''So I stepped in.''
Under cross-examination from the prosecutor, he said he had a stronger bond with the complainant than with her older and younger sisters.
The cross-examination is due to continue before Chief Justice Terence Higgins this morning.
