A young girl's claim her father raped her with a stick while she was living with the incestuous Colt clan has been called into question in a Sydney court.
The six-year-old child was removed from the family in 2012, when police found about 40 members of the family living in squalor among old caravans and tents on a NSW bush block.
Photographs submitted as evidence show a lack of washing and toilet facilities and considerable "dirt" and "deprivation," crown prosecutor Katharine Jeffreys told the District Court trial in her closing address.
Nadia told police in 2012 her father - known by pseudonym Charlie Colt - sexually assaulted her with a "small, skinny stick" taken from a gun bag kept inside his tent, where she slept with him and her mother.
On Tuesday Ms Jeffreys argued Nadia's evidence was sound as she gave clear descriptions of problems, objects and events despite her poor language skills at the time.
"When she was specifically asked where the stick would go, she said 'inside her clothes' and 'inside her back bottom'," Ms Jeffreys said.
Nadia had no real contact with the world outside her family and therefore had no opportunity to report the assault before she was taken away, the Crown says.
Defence lawyer Paul Hogan called into question another interview Nadia gave last year, where she said she was "embarrassed" to admit the incident on a video that might be later played in front of a jury.
Mr Hogan does not dispute the child has "some memory" of an incident involving a stick, but questions her changing statements throughout the years.
"Looking at her reliability, honestly and accuracy, regrettably in 2019, when she knew she had an obligation to tell the truth, she did not tell the truth to the court about the state of her memory," Mr Hogan said.
Colt has pleaded not guilty to the charges of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 10 and indecent assault of a person under 16 between 2010 and 2012.
The trial before Judge Kate Traill continues.
Australian Associated Press
