Accused denies sexually abusing girls

A man on trial for abusing teenage girls at a school boarding hostel where he worked has told a Perth court he never had sex with them but may have “accidentally” touched one on the shoulder.

Neil Vincent McKenna, 53, was a senior supervisor and acting warden at St Andrew’s Hostel in the West Australian wheatbelt town of Katanning from 1986 to 1991, when he allegedly sexually abused three girls in his care, then aged 13 to 16.

McKenna is the brother of jailed serial pedophile Dennis McKenna, 66, who was a warden at the hostel from 1975 to 1990 and is the subject of an ongoing special inquiry into whether there was a cover-up of sexual abuse at the state-run facility.

Neil McKenna is being tried by a District Court judge without a jury after being charged with 10 counts, including aggravated sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and defilement by a schoolmaster.

The court on Friday was shown a video of McKenna being interviewed by detectives in October 2010.

In the video he denied ever having had sex with the girls or fondling their breasts.

“I never touched any girl there,” he said.

Regarding one victim, McKenna said that during a camping trip he was walking with a female student and may have “accidentally” touched her on the shoulder to guide her through a gate.

“I never touched her except for on the shoulder,” he said.

Regarding a second alleged victim, McKenna said he’d sat with her at the back of a cinema one time but said there was “no way” he’d ever touched her or forced her to touch him, as she alleges.

The detectives also asked McKenna if he’d ever had sex with a girl in his bed or in a vehicle. He denied both suggestions.

He said he took some students for driving lessons and on bus trips for excursions, but never had sex with any teenage girls.

The trial, before Judge Anthony Derrick, is continuing.

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