A male childcare worker has been found not guilty in a Perth court of indecently touching two young girls at separate childcare centres in the metropolitan area.<\/p>\n
Warning: This story contains details of child sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
Robert David Reti, 39, had been on trial in the District Court on two charges of indecently dealing with a child under the age of 13 in 2023.<\/p>\n
The alleged victims were two girls aged four and six who were in Mr Reti’s care, one at a childcare centre and the other at an after school facility in suburban Perth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Reti said he was a “popular educator” with children. (ABC News: David Weber)<\/p>\n
The jury deliberated for nearly three hours before finding Mr Reti not guilty on both counts.<\/p>\n
Mr Reti had been accused of touching the four-year-old at the childcare centre, and the alleged incident came to light when the child confided in her mother.<\/p>\n
The girl alleged her new friend, whom she knew as “Rob”, had “tickled” her with his penis while she was in her underwear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Separately, at an after school centre, Mr Reti was alleged to have indecently touched a six-year-old girl as she was sitting on his lap.<\/p>\n
‘Popular educator’<\/p>\n
Mr Reti denied both incidents ever happened and testified that he was a “popular educator” with the children, and there was a “constant flow of parents in and out” of the centres.<\/p>\n
He told the court he got a sense of being “loved and wanted” by the children.<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Hamish Glenister told the jury there were inconsistencies in the four-year-old’s story, and the girl was getting mixed up with other memories at daycare.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Hamish Glenister questioned the reliability of the four-year-old girl’s memories.\u00a0 (ABC News: David Weber)<\/p>\n
Mr Glenister said her account was “exaggerated and imagined”.<\/p>\n
He said the allegation Mr Reti touched a girl’s genitals with his hand worked against his client because it didn’t come to light until this year, when the alleged victim told her mother.<\/p>\n
Mr Reti showed little emotion when the verdicts were read out in court Friday evening.<\/p>\n
The result was met with gasps from some sitting in court.<\/p>\n
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