Liam Anthony Thornton, 26, leaves the ACT Courts during his trial. Photo: Albert McKnight.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to alleged sexual assault and child abuse.
Two teenage girls were allegedly sexually or indecently abused by a man involved with Canberra’s reptile community on separate occasions, jurors heard when his trial began this week.
In the early 2020s, Liam Anthony Thornton was in his early or mid-20s when he allegedly indecently assaulted the first girl, who was aged under 16, then indecently and sexually assaulted the second girl, who was under 18.
The then-Canberra Reptile Zoo employee, who pleaded not guilty to 14 charges when his ACT Supreme Court jury trial began on Tuesday (26 August), met both girls through their interests in reptiles.
He allegedly began messaging the first girl over social media before he went on to repeatedly proposition her for sex and ask her for intimate photos until she eventually sent him one image, jurors heard during the prosecutor’s opening submissions.
Also, when she visited a reptile shop while he was working there, he allegedly indecently touched her body.
The first incident involving the second girl took place when he allegedly repeatedly kissed her at a social gathering, even though she told him to stop.
The second girl described the later alleged sexual assault to police several days after the incident in an interview that was recorded and played to jurors.
“Liam did things to me, but I don’t really want to say what because it’s very scary,” she said when police asked what happened.
She said she was warming up her car in a carpark one evening when Mr Thornton parked his van near her and messaged her, repeatedly asking her to get inside it.
“I’m mad that I did go to the van, thinking I would get him to stop asking me,” she said.
She said she went to the van before he picked her up, sat her inside it and shut the door, even though she told him, “This isn’t a good idea, I don’t think this should happen”.
She claimed he repeatedly asked her to have oral sex with him, but she “kept saying no” before he put his hands around her neck.
“I was very scared,” she said.
“At that point, I just gave up, I stopped fighting it. I stopped talking. I knew what was going to happen and I couldn’t do anything.”
He allegedly sexually touched her body and had sex with her without her consent.
Afterwards, she said she drove away, arrived home, then sat in her car and cried.
In the opening submissions by defence barrister Tahn O’Rourke, she said there were two complainants and three periods of time, which jurors needed to look at separately.
She said her client denied making sexual comments to the first girl, denied indecently touching her and denied asking her for or receiving the intimate photo.
“She never sent him any photographs of that kind and he never received any photographs of that kind,” Ms O’Rourke said.
Regarding the second girl, Ms O’Rourke argued that any kissing at the social gathering was consensual.
For the alleged incident in the van, she argued that some sexual acts between them were consensual, and some alleged acts, like the choking, did not occur at all. When it came to the allegation that he had sex with the second girl without her consent, the barrister again said the issue was around consent.
Ms O’Rourke told the jurors that it was essential for them not to form any preconceived notions about a particular event or charge until they had heard all the evidence.
A video of the first girl being cross-examined by Ms O’Rourke was also played to jurors, in which she agreed she reported her allegations to police after she found out Mr Thornton had been charged over the second girl.
She disagreed with the suggestion that her allegations were untrue.
In another video, the first girl’s mother told police that over a few months in the early 2020s, her daughter told her what she alleged happened between her and Mr Thornton.
“For that year, obviously my focus was on making sure she was okay,” the mother said.
“It took a while for her to process what happened.”
Mr Thornton, now aged 26, pleaded not guilty to three charges over the first girl, being grooming, committing an act of indecency on a young person and using a carriage service for child abuse material.
He pleaded not guilty to 11 charges over the second girl, which were three counts of committing an act of indecency without consent, three counts of attempted sexual intercourse without consent, four counts of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of choking.
The jury trial continues before Justice Belinda Baker.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
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