Another witness is expected to accuse Australian rules football great Barry Cable of sexually abusing them during a civil trial.

February 10, 2023

A third alleged sex abuse victim is expected to give evidence against legendary Australian Rules footballer Barry Cable.

Two women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have already told a civil trial in Perth the now 79-year-old sexually assaulted them when they were children.

The triple Sandover Medal winner, who is being sued for damages by one of the women, denies the claims and is not facing criminal charges.

The second woman to accuse the famous rover of sexual abuse gave evidence on Friday to the Western Australian District Court.

She claimed the former North Melbourne player, who has not attended the hearings, inappropriately touched her in the 1980s and 90s.

“He was rubbing my breasts and he had started to move his hands down south,” she said.

“It’s so weird, his face changed and I had never seen him like that before.”

Another adult close to Cable interrupted the incident after the famous rover had stripped the then-teen naked, the court heard.

Cable was allegedly sexually inappropriate with the woman on two occasions when she was aged between eight and 14.

She also said he offered her money to repeat the abuse on another occasion.

The court heard her family had been close to the Cable family and she had informally reported the incidents to police.

She said the officer she spoke to told her police could arrest and charge Cable if she wanted to make a formal complaint against him.

The woman sobbed as she told the court the alleged incidents were also known within the families and she was “emotionally blackmailed” not to press charges against Cable.

“It was not a topic anyone wanted to discuss because he was famous,” she said.

“Everyone was concerned about shielding him.”

The woman also said she became aware as she got older that there was another alleged victim “who had got it far worse”.

She said she discussed the other alleged victim with police.

The woman told the court she confronted Cable when she was in her early 20s about the incidents and he apologised and said he had started attending church.

She also said she was concerned Cable would abuse other children because he had a problem and “liked girls that age”.

The woman who launched the legal action against Cable claims he started abusing her when she was about 13 in the late 1960s.

It allegedly continued through her teenage years and escalated from sexualised conversations and unwanted touching to “degrading” sexual violence and forceful intercourse.

During one incident, Cable allegedly forcibly sexually assaulted the then-teen at the Perth Football Club in 1971, where he was both captain and coach.

Cable also allegedly “relentlessly” assaulted her in his garden shed, his car and at a public swimming pool, and in his family home while his wife and children slept.

The assaults allegedly continued even when the woman became an adult and got married, with Cable accused of stalking her and coercing her to have sex on numerous occasions at her home and in hotel rooms.

Cable claimed the pair had a consensual relationship but the woman denied this and gave confronting evidence to the court for two days about the alleged emotional and physical abuse.

She also detailed the trauma and tragic consequences she has suffered, including lifelong mental and physical health issues that had impacted her marriage, relationships, education and ability to work.

Three mental health experts, who gave evidence on Friday about the severe damage Cable’s alleged assaults had caused the woman, said they had no doubt she had suffered sexual abuse.

The trial continues on Monday with evidence from the new witness.