Muhammad Ali, pictured in 2023, has pleaded not guilty to both his charges. Photo: Albert McKnight.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to alleged child abuse.
A trial has begun against a former childcare worker accused of indecently assaulting two young children while he worked at a Canberra daycare centre.
Muhammad Ali, 31, pleaded not guilty to two counts of committing an act of indecency on a child in his ACT Supreme Court jury trial.
These charges relate to a three-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy.
But the allegations first emerged due to the claims made by a second young boy whom Ali was not currently facing charges over, jurors heard during the opening addresses on Tuesday (19 August).
Prosecutor Marcus Dyason said in April 2022, this second boy’s mother collected him from the daycare centre before he told her he’d had a “bad day” and claimed Ali had touched his genitals.
The mother reported this to the centre and Ali was suspended pending an investigation. She went on to tell the mother of the four-year-old boy what happened as their sons were friends, as well as the mother of the three-year-old girl the following month.
After this conversation, the girl’s mother talked to her daughter and asked her if anyone had touched her genitals. The girl replied with, “Yes, Ali did”.
The mother told her no one was allowed to do that.
Mr Dyason said when police spoke to the girl, she repeated her claims that Ali had touched her and also claimed he had touched her brother’s genitals as well. But when police spoke to her brother, he denied this.
Then in June 2023, the name of the four-year-old boy came up during the course of the legal proceedings, so the mother of the second boy told this to the former’s parents.
This prompted them to speak to their son again. This time, the four-year-old old told his father that Ali had also allegedly touched his genitals after giving him a piggyback ride to the daycare’s sandpit.
Mr Dyason expected the issue jurors would need to decide was whether the alleged offences against the girl and the four-year-old boy did happen.
He said the second boy’s claims were put before the jury as tendency evidence, as the prosecution alleged Ali tended to have a sexual interest in children.
Barrister Sarah Baker-Goldsmith, appearing for Ali, said her client “absolutely denies” the allegations and reminded jurors they were not being asked to determine any charge relating to the second boy.
She suggested the dates and order of what was alleged to have happened would be very important to their deliberations.
She also said while the daycare centre had CCTV cameras “virtually everywhere”, none of the alleged assaults were captured on film.
Ms Baker-Goldsmith urged jurors to keep an open mind while they heard the evidence and to consider if there were other reasons motivating people’s actions, either consciously or unconsciously.
The trial continues before Acting Justice Peter Berman.
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.
So that's the sort of self-serving drivel that drives your thinking. Thanks for the explanation. View