news

Adelaide childcare centre failed to tell parents of alleged assault, court told.

By court reporter Candice Prosser.

The parents of a five-year-old boy were not told by a childcare centre of his alleged indecent assault by a carer at the business, an Adelaide court has heard.

Peter John Gill, 51, is on trial in the District Court on an aggravated charge of indecent assault.

The court was told Gill worked as a carer for 15 years at the eastern suburbs childcare centre, which cannot be identified publicly for legal reasons.

It heard a colleague at the centre allegedly witnessed Gill fondling the boy and reported the matter to her superior.

Prosecutor Mark Norman told the court the centre never informed the parents of the allegations.

It heard the parents and childcare centre dealt with police independently.

“The childcare centre never raised it with the family — it appears the first time the family discovered the childcare centre complaint was by the police,” Mr Norman said.

He said the boy had told his grandmother a childcare worker touched his genitals, then told his parents and they went to police.

The prosecution alleged the boy had faced a series of incidents and the court heard allegations Gill was seen taking photographs of the child on a mobile phone.

The boy’s mother told the court she had felt uncomfortable about the attention Gill gave her son, including hugging him for what she described as “an uncomfortable amount of time”.

“I was seconds away from breaking it up it was that extended,” she told the court.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.

© 2017 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Read theABC Disclaimer here