The detective in charge of investigating child abuse claims against Sydney swim instructor Kyle Daniels has denied influencing the girls in their interviews.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The cross-examination of Detective Senior Constable Emma Lay continued in the District Court on Thursday at the 22-year-old's jury trial.
He's pleaded not guilty to 26 charges, including multiple counts of having sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and indecently assaulting a person under 16.
He is accused of touching nine of his students aged between five and 10 on or near their genitals while instructing them between February 2018 and February 2019 at a pool at Mosman on Sydney's north shore.
His barrister Leslie Nicholls is taking the detective through some of the recorded interviews.
She said she had scrutinised them to see if she may have influenced the children and found she hadn't.
She "did my best" and maintained she did not misquote them or make suggestions.
When Mr Nicholls asked if it had been proper to ask five questions in one question to one child, she said in hindsight she recognised this was tough but she was trying to find out exactly what happened.
He cited one child saying four times that her teacher put his hand "by" or "near" her vagina, while the detective had gone on to ask about him putting his hand "on" her vagina.
Det Lay disagreed she had introduced the answer about the hand being "on" the girl's vagina.
Another girl said "he would hold us near, sort of a bit below the waist", after which the detective asked about when he held you "below your waist".
She agreed she had not sought to clarify what the girl meant by "sort of, a bit below".
The barrister also asked about a girl referring to a camera and saying "they knew it was Kyle in each class".
The detective agreed that this was after a false media report which said Daniels had been captured on CCTV footage at the pool abusing a child.
The detective agreed she had an opportunity, when later assessing the child's interview, to consider issues of contamination.
She previously denied a claim she changed the word "bottom" to "vagina" in a mother's statement in a bid to aid her case against Daniels.
The trial continues before Judge Kara Shead.
Australian Associated Press
