A local councillor accused of flashing his genitals three times on a public beach will have to wait until after Christmas for a decision from the magistrate.
Boat Harbour's Darren Lindsay Fairbrother - a councillor for Waratah-Wynyard - pleaded not guilty to a charge of prohibited behaviour in a hearing that has now spread over two full days in court.
Visiting South Australian Magistrate Teresa Anderson called a halt to proceedings at 4pm on Tuesday, pointing out it was unlikely that another two cross examinations and the final witness would fit in the next hour.
The court had previously heard allegations that Mr Fairbrother had exposed himself three times to Crown prosecutor Katrina Brown and her teenage son at Boat Harbour Beach earlier this year.
Mrs Brown, her husband Magistrate Simon Brown and their two children were staying at the beach over summer, as they had done for more than a decade.
All four of the family members testified on Monday, where the court heard Mr Fairbrother had allegedly flashed the pair, walked away with a towel wrapped around his head and then had a later altercation with Mr Brown and the older son.
Mr Fairbrother gave evidence for an hour and half at the hearing on Tuesday afternoon, after the prosecution had brought forward all seven of its witnesses.
Mr Fairbrother told the court he had, on the afternoon of January 6, slipped out of his shorts after they snagged on a jagged rock whilst he was wearing a G-string underneath.
The councillor said he had taken a quick swim after doing some mowing at an empty block he owned on Hebbles Road.
Mr Fairbrother then explained that he had set himself up on a large rock on the beach to read his book, with a towel draped over his head as he didn't have a hat.
"It was getting hot under the towel on top of the rock," he said.
"I proceeded to manoeuvre myself around. As I moved back my shorts - which were a nylon, black material - they got caught on the jagged rock.
"They came down and I kicked them off. And then I was sitting on the hot rock in my G-String."
The defendant said he had shortly afterwards picked up his towel and his book and put on his shorts, and then made his way over to his wife, who was lying down nearby.
He said he had been facing away from everyone else on the beach while this occurred.
His lawyer, Paul Sullivan, stepped Mr Fairbrother through some of the claims the prosecution had made.
Mr Fairbrother agreed that Mr Brown, the complainant's husband, had come and stood near him, but said the man had avoided eye contact with him.
"It appeared as if he was more interested in my wife laying on the beach," the defendant said.
He denied wrapping a towel around his head after going for a swim and seeing Mrs Brown with a phone in her hand, and said he had been drying his hair.
Mr Sullivan asked his client about the confrontation between him and the oldest Brown boy.
Mr Fairbrother denied ever saying his wife had a "fat ass", but admitted he had joked about the size of her bottom.
He said he had been wearing a bandana around his face at the time because he had a cold sore.
He outright denied ever showing his genitalia in public that day.
The hearing will resume in 2022.
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