TAS: Randell had power over her, alleged sex victim tells

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-1999
TAS: Randell had power over her, alleged sex victim tells

By Don Woolford

HOBART, Aug 4 AAP - A woman told a Tasmanian court today that she had not complained about
international cricket umpire Steve Randell stroking her in class and in her bedroom because he
had power over her.

The woman, who was in Randell's grade six class in 1981, said she was anxious to get
through the school year and he had the power to hold her back.

She was giving evidence on the third day of the Tasmanian Supreme Court trial in which
Randell has pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of indecent assault against ten girls in 1981 and
1982, when he was a grade six teacher at Burnie.

The woman, who turned 11 in 1981, said that about once a fortnight Randell would call her
to the front of the class to read a story.

He would put his arm around her, sometimes pulling out her shirt. He rubbed her back and
stomach and worked his way up to her breast.

When she held her arms tightly to her sides, he prised them away.

At other times, she said she could see his arm around other girls and movement under their
clothes.

The woman said Randell frequently and unexpectedly visited her home.

Five or six times he came into her bedroom which she shared with her elder sister and sat
on her bed, talking to her and rubbing her body.

She said the rubbing was "all very gradual and slow", moving under the bedclothes to her
pyjama top and then on to her skin.

Her sister, "a bookworm", was reading during these episodes.

Once her mother came in when he was lounging on the bed and touching her. He removed his
hand, stood up and left.

The woman said that after a time she "wised up". When Randell was visiting, she'd hurry to
bed, turn her light out and pretend to be asleep.

He would come to the door and ask if she was awake and leave when she didn't answer.

The woman told Randell's counsel Peter Barker she didn't complain because of the power he
had over her.

"At my place it was respect your elders and don't ask questions," she added.

"I wasn't confident to say anything to him."

But after being shown a document, she agreed that she had raised questions about the
standard of his teaching and the workload of her class.

She said she was a conscientious student who worried about her progress. However she hadn't
had any trouble with grade six, adding that she'd ultimately graduated with honours from
university.

The woman's mother said that on one occasion in 1981 when Randell was at their home, he
said he was going to the toilet.

When he hadn't returned after about 15 minutes, she went looking for him and found her in
her daughter's bedroom.

He was lying on the top of the bed with his head on the pillow.

"I was horrified," the mother said.

"I said "Look Stephen, you had better come out and have a cup of coffee'."

He got up and followed her to the kitchen where he told her he had craved affection since
his mother died.

She said Randell had come to her home after that, but as far as she knew had never gone to
her daughter's bedroom.

Another woman, who was a grade 7 student in 1982 and "best friend" of a woman who on Monday
gave evidence of being indecently assaulted, said there had been rumours around the school
about Randell.

She said there were rumours about him putting his hand up girls' jumpers while looking at
their work.

There were also stories that he didn't have a home and sometimes slept on a mattress in his
classroom and would get dressed in front of girls.

The trial continues tomorrow.

AAP dw/pwa/br

KEYWORD: RANDELL NIGHTLEAD

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