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Monday, December 23, 2024

Junior golfer told being molested was ‘her fault’

A golf coach told a girl it was “her fault” he had molested her before she tearfully confided in her family, a Brisbane court has heard.

Sean Patrick Lynch, 68, is accused of grooming the girl before engaging in multiple indecent acts with the “gifted” junior golfer from April 2017 until December 2019.

Her father tried to keep his composure in the District Court as he shared the moment the girl claimed she had been indecently treated by Lynch.

“She broke down and cried and said Sean had molested her,” he told the jury.

The father said he immediately took his daughter to the police station. 

Her grandfather said he was also present when the girl told them Lynch had molested her after she had visited a psychiatrist for the first time in December 2019.

“She was bawling her eyes out. She was very hurt,” he said.

The grandfather said the girl told them she had been afraid to tell her family after being manipulated by Lynch.

“She did say … Sean had made her say it was her fault and that’s why she was scared to come and tell her family,” he told the court.

He said he was “watching like a hawk” when Lynch approached the girl at a tournament six days later.

“He walked up to put his arm around her and she pushed him away,” he told the jury.

The grandfather said up to that stage he considered Lynch the “king of the kids”.

“He would organise and participate in chipping and putting competitions (before junior golf tournaments),” he said.

“He was the main one running everything … with the kids.”

The father confirmed that in late 2016 they had first met Lynch who was known as a peak performance coach who could help the girl’s “mind game”.

The father said he first noticed his daughter’s relationship had become closer with Lynch in January 2018 and over the next 12 months she would stay at the coach’s house “from time to time”.

When the girl officially became part of Lynch’s junior ranks she started texting him a lot, her father said.

However, he said he noticed she reduced her contact and stopped staying at Lynch’s place from May 2019, even blocking the golf coach’s number on her mobile phone.

By November 2019, the father said she started asking if she could see a psychiatrist but he did not take her until a month later.

The father said immediately after seeing the psychiatrist, she tearfully told family about Lynch.

Lynch has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges including indecent treatment of a child under 16, possessing child exploitation material and grooming.

The trial before Judge Vicki Loury continues.

By Laine Clark in Brisbane

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