The wife and two grown-up children of a man charged with sexually touching two young girls testified in his defence in court.

The defendant, a 48-year-old Sandys resident who cannot be named for legal reasons, has denied two charges of touching a girl under the age of 14 for a sexual purpose.

The two separate incidents allegedly took place at the man’s home between August 1 and September 30, 2021.

One of the alleged victims had previously testified that she was molested while playing in a wooden “clubhouse” near the defendant’s home.

A second witness told the court that she had visited the same property several times during the summer of 2021.

She claimed that, on one occasion, the defendant asked her to sit on his lap and then touched her inappropriately.

Questioned by defence attorney Bruce Swan, the defendant’s wife said that her husband was never alone at home with young children.

She added that her adult son had been living in the clubhouse and always kept it locked when he was away.

But when cross-examined by prosecutor Shaunté Simons-Fox, the witness confirmed that the clubhouse contained a bed and an Xbox video game console – items that the two victims had identified in their testimony.

The wife also said that, although she worked full-time in Hamilton, her husband was also at work at the same time.

Ms Simons-Fox pointed out that this would have given the defendant an opportunity to return home without his wife’s knowledge.

“You weren’t there, so you can’t say that he didn’t go back,” she said.

The witness agreed with Ms Simons-Fox that she loved her husband, was supportive of him, and stood by him – but denied that she would do anything to protect him.

The defendant’s daughter, who was living with her parents in the main house at the time of the alleged offences, said that she was at home looking after her own young daughters during the summer.

She said that young children were often playing in the yard, but that she was never fully aware of what was happening outside because she remained indoors with her infant daughter.

She also acknowledged that, when her father was home, she did not “have a tendency to follow him around”.

The third defence witness, the defendant’s son, who lived in the clubhouse, was adamant that he always kept the building locked when at work during the day.

He said: “I had a lock on my door at all times – no one else had a key.“

The son said that his nieces would play near the clubhouse but never ventured inside.

He said: “I don’t allow them to come inside – if they go over there to play, I’m there. I’m watching them – there’s no reason for them to be in my room.”

But he did agree with Ms Simons-Fox that he was at work for the majority of the day and would not be aware of any incidents taking place on the property while he was away.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo will deliver his judgment on March 5 after both prosecution and defence counsels have filed written submissions.