A woman described how a man she viewed as a family friend sexually exploited her repeatedly more than 30 years ago.

The witness told the Supreme Court that she did not tell anyone about the defendant’s actions, saying: “He always told me not to tell anybody.”

The defendant, 59, has denied nine charges related to sexual offences against two young sisters including unlawful carnal knowledge, attempted unlawful carnal knowledge and sexual exploitation.

Neither the defendant nor the complainants in the case can be identified for legal reasons.

The elder of the two victims told the court yesterday that she first met the defendant in 1992 when she was 11 years old and he was about 30.

She said that her older sister had introduced him to her family at their St George’s home and two or three days later, he returned to their home to do some work.

“I came to find out over a period of days he was sleeping in his van,” she said. “In the van was everything that you need to live.”

She said that he began to park the van outside the house, near a light pole not far from her bedroom window.

The witness said that the defendant was soon invited to move into the family house and she began to view him as a trusted family friend.

“He was funny. He was nice and kind to me,” she said. “He always made my mother laugh.”

She told the court that later that year, she had seen advertisements for the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the defendant took her to see it with her older sister.

“It was a horror movie that I really wanted to see. I loved them. I still do,” she said.

“It was the last showing. After the show my sister left to go home to her house and I was driven back in the van by the defendant.”

She said that after they arrived at her family home, she and the defendant climbed into the back of the van where he touched her sexually and attempted to have sex with her.

The witness told the court that while he did not have intercourse with her on that occasion, he went on to do so with her “numerous times”.

She recalled another incident when she was 13 years old in which she met the defendant at a private members club to get a ride home.

The witness said that after she arrived, the defendant had unlawful carnal knowledge of her on a mattress in an office of the club before taking her home.

The trial continues.

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