Ex-AFL legend Barry Cable’s wife denies girl stayed at home as he defends historical child sex abuse charges
The wife of former AFL footballer Barry Cable has denied a teenage girl was staying at their home despite ministerial records suggesting otherwise.
Helen Cable was called to testify at the trial where her husband was fighting five counts of indecent sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 and two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13.
A woman accused Mr Cable of sexually abusing her when she was about eight years old at the home where she lived with her partner in south-east Perth in the 1960s.
The alleged victim told the court Cable applied petroleum jelly to his genitals and tried to have sex with his wife while she was asleep at home.
Under pressure from State’s Attorney Kim Jennings, Ms. Cable denied the girl was at their home.
When shown departmental records showing that Mr. and Mrs. Cable had taken the girl away for a time, and when another said that arrangements had been made for the girl to stay with them on weekends and school holidays, Mrs. Cable rejected the suggestion.
“No, it never happened,” he said.
When asked how often Mr Cable was home alone, Mrs Cable told the court that her husband was rarely home alone as he rarely left the house without him.
“It’s very rare because I’m not an outdoors person, I like to be at home,” he said.
“I suppose there was a time when you dated Mr. Cable?” Mrs. Jennings asked.
“It would be at work. I don’t remember being home when I was home,” he said.
During the re-examination, defense lawyer Gerard Yin asked Ms Cable what she thought was meant by the ministerial documents.
Mrs Cable said she had no idea but her husband was trying to help the girl’s mother and at one point there was an emergency but she did not know what was done about it.
“I don’t know, but (the girl) never came back to my house,” he said.
She told the court that she was always at home when her husband was there and that was the way things were at the time.
“That’s the way I was raised, my mom was always home when my dad came home from work, so I knew that’s how life was,” he said.
“Would you lie for your husband?” Mr. Yin asked.
“No,” replied Mrs. Cable.
The victim’s aunt also testified at the hearing, saying her nephew told her Cable molested her more than 30 years ago.
“We talked about Barry Cable,” he said.
“She told me he was harassing her.
“I didn’t really know what harassment was.
“He said he touched her and made her do things. He said he made her do things sexually.”
During the trial, three other women also gave evidence accusing the famous football player of sexually abusing them when they were children in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mr. Cable is not facing criminal charges over these allegations.
One woman claimed Cable harassed her for more than a decade; This started when he was about 13 years old and continued until about the time he got married.
Two other women also alleged that Cable exposed himself to them and tried to push his genitals into their backsides during spa visits during his childhood.
Cable was one of the best players of his era and was regarded as a football legend in Victoria and Western Australia.
He played with Perth in the Western Australian Football League, then at North Melbourne where he was a dominant player during one of the club’s most successful periods.
He won two premierships with the Kangaroos in 1975 and 1977, was the club’s best and fairest player in 1970 and was named in the North Melbourne Team of the Century.
He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and elevated to legend status in 2012.
In WA he won the WAFL Sandover Medal three times and played in four premierships.
The hearing is expected to conclude on Friday.
