A MOTHER has broken down in court during a cross-examination about why she allowed an alleged paedophile to live in her home.
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The accused, who cannot be identified, has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing a girl from the age of about 8 until she was about 13.
The Crown alleges the man was living at the girl's home in Launceston when he abused her between 2002 to 2007.
Yesterday in Launceston's Supreme Court the girl's mother was grilled by the defence over why she let the man return to the family home despite being aware of the allegations from her daughter.
Defence counsel Fabiano Cangelosi asked the mother about telling police in 2011 that after the accused returned to the house things returned to normal.
"Two weeks later and [your daughter] seems fine, is that right?" he asked.
"Well, he came back but we weren't 100 per cent fine," she said.
The woman said after the allegations were made she did not let the man look after her daughters.
"You allow [him] to come back and live with you?" Mr Cangelosi said.
"I didn't allow him ... he came back, I didn't want him back," she said.
"It's your house isn't it?"
"Yes."
"You could have kicked him out."
"I couldn't."
"Come on ... of course you could."
The woman said the accused kept ringing and messaging her.
"He made me feel like I couldn't manage without him," she said, sobbing.
Mr Cangelosi suggested that she'd let the accused return because the daughter had told her it hadn't happened and she'd told the man her daughter was prone to lying.