West Australian MP James Hayward is on trial after pleading not guilty to four charges relating to the alleged abuse of an eight-year-old girl over two years.

August 22, 2023

A witness has been recalled to the trial of a West Australian MP accused of child sexual abuse amid allegations she withheld evidence.

James Dorrin Hayward has pleaded not guilty to four charges relating to the alleged abuse of an eight-year-old girl over two years.

The 53-year-old allegedly directed the girl to indecently touch him on three occasions and showed her how to search for pornography on the internet.

The District Court trial in Perth has heard Hayward, a former church pastor, would often put his alleged victim, who was not a family member, to bed and lay beside her.

The child’s mother on Tuesday gave evidence to the court about his relationship with her family, saying his behaviour had never previously given her cause for concern.

Under questioning from Hayward’s lawyer Tom Percy KC, the woman denied communicating with his client about the allegations before she went to police.

She was later recalled to the witness box and admitted that she had replied to messages from Hayward before she made a complaint.

“I did reply: ‘Leave me and my family alone’,” the woman said when asked what she had said.

The court heard Hayward sent another Snapchat message saying: “What’s going on?”

The woman said she responded “You know what you did” before deleting the app from her mobile phone.

Mr Percy accused the woman of withholding the evidence and hiding the communication from the police, the prosecution and the jury.

He also said the woman had communicated with Hayward the previous day, soon after she learned about the alleged abuse against her daughter.

Mr Percy said the woman had told Hayward about the allegations against him.

“You didn’t tell us the whole truth,” he said as he repeated the accusations against her several times.

“You hid it from police and to make sure they didn’t find out you deleted the app.”

The woman denied all of Mr Percy’s allegations but did agree the pair had messaged almost daily before the allegations were made.

Mr Percy has been critical of the prosecution’s case against his client, saying there was no medical or other physical evidence.

He also questioned the girl’s honesty, saying she made up the allegation for fear of being punished by her parents after she was caught looking at animated Family Guy pornography on her iPad.

The trial has heard Hayward wrote a suicide note to his wife about the allegations against him before his alleged victim’s family went to police.

He sent it a week later with the addition of one line – “Which I have done” – in an apparent reference to the crimes he’s accused of.

Hayward resigned from the WA Nationals after the charges were laid in 2021 and continues to sit in the state’s upper house as an independent MP.

His trial on Tuesday also heard from other members of the alleged victim’s family, including a sibling who found the girl looking at porn and recorded a video statement of the child alleging Hayward had abused her.