A Tasmanian man clearly remembers his fury in the moment he confronted his daughter's alleged abuser more than 15 years ago, the Burnie Supreme Court heard on Thursday.
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He was giving evidence on day two of his brother-in-law's trial, recalling the moment he went to confront him after learning the man had allegedly assaulted his teenage daughter.
The brother-in-law, who cannot be named at risk of identifying his alleged victims, has been accused of three counts of indecent assault in 2004 and 2010.
The first charge was in relation to a camping trip at Crayfish Creek, alleged to have been carried out towards the accused man's then 15-year-old niece.
The court heard the niece give evidence on Wednesday, during which she claimed her uncle, about 40 years old at the time, had touched her vagina with "something hard" and slid his penis back and forth between her legs.
The woman's parents gave evidence on Thursday, each noting they had seen a change in their daughter after the trip.
"[My daughter] seemed very agitated when she came home and went straight inside and basically locked herself away," the complainant's father said.
"She went from an outgoing, loving person to someone who locked herself in her bedroom. We couldn't get to her, it was a massive change."
He said his daughter had eventually suffered a "breakdown" and told her parents, triggering him to confront his brother-in-law.
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"I pulled up outside where he worked ... he came halfway down the driveway ... I told him to stop right where he bloody well was. 'We know what you done, we know what you done' I said to him'," the man told the court under questioning.
"My word he responded - 'no no no no, I didn't' - but I didn't say what he done, I just said we knew he done it. I said, 'piss off before I break your bloody neck', then I hopped in the car and drove away."
His wife, the complainant's mother, described her daughter as "shattered, broken, distressed" after the alleged offence.
The man said the family "just completely split" after that, and that he hadn't seen the accused in more than 15 years.
The court also heard from a police officer who interviewed the niece in twice in 2006, keeping notes from both occasions.
The officer said she had presented the allegations to the uncle later that year, and that he had denied them.
A second police officer also gave evidence via videolink from Hobart, saying she had looked into the case in 2018 after recording an allegation by the accused's own daughter.
The trial continues Friday morning.
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