He has been charged with multiple counts of incest and committing indecent acts with a child aged under 16 years and one offence of making a threat to kill.

In his opening address, barrister for the accused, Sandy Robertson, said the main question the jury had to answer was whether the events ever happened.

He said at the time of the allegations the man was trying to get access to his two children.

“There is a long, dark, evil cloud hanging over this case as family court proceedings were in vogue at that particular time,” he said.

Crown prosecutor Diana Piekusis said it was alleged that the accused man had been in his late 30s at the time of the alleged offending and the girl was between nine and 12.

She said that at the time of the alleged events the accused man was living with his then partner, her daughter and their two children.

Ms Piekusis said the first incident was alleged to have happened just before the girl turned 10.

The man asked for a can of alcohol and when the girl didn’t respond quickly enough, he allegedly threw a remote control at her, pinned her to a bed and touched her inappropriately.

The prosecutor said the girl claimed that her stepfather threatened to kill her mother if the girl told anyone.

After she turned 10 the girl claimed her stepfather said he would show her how to brush her teeth, put toothpaste in her mouth and then made her perform a sex act.

When she was still 10 the girl claimed there was another incident in which her stepfather attempted to have sex with her and then committed an indecent act with her.

The prosecutor said the girl alleged her stepfather had sex with her when she was 12.

The relationship between the man and the stepdaughter’s mother ended in 2009. 

On October 5, 2013, the girl was her with her mother and two friends. 

When one of the friends pinned the girl by the arms she “freaked out”, and Ms Piekusis said it was then that the girl told her mother she had been abused and the allegations were reported to police.