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Footy great’s third alleged sex victim gives evidence

A third woman has alleged Australian Rules great Barry Cable molested her when she was a child.

A third woman has alleged Australian Rules great Barry Cable molested her when she was a child. Photo: AAP

A third woman has accused legendary Australian Rules footballer Barry Cable of sexually abusing her when she was a child, but says she did not report it because “all of Australia loved him”.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims the now 79-year-old tried to have sex with her in a spa in the 1980s.

“He got me to sit on his knee and I do remember feeling the erection on my backside,” she told the District Court in Perth on Monday.

“He was holding onto my breasts and holding me onto his knee that way.”

The woman, who was about 11-years-old at the time, said Cable then pulled her bather bottoms to the side and attempted to penetrate her.

“I got off his lap because it was really uncomfortable,” she said.

“I remember being scared and embarrassed and probably shocked.”

The woman said the alleged assault happened when other children were in the spa.

She also said she did not report the incident to her parents or police because of Cable’s fame.

“He was so famous my father had stars in his eyes about him. He said all of Australia loved him,” she said.

“I was probably scared and intimidated.”

The claims were made amid a civil trial brought by another woman against Cable over abuse that she allegedly suffered as a child and teenager.

Two other women have told the Perth court the triple Sandover Medal winner was sexually inappropriate or sexually abused them when they were children or young teenagers.

Cable denies the claims and is not facing criminal charges.

The second woman to accuse the famous rover gave evidence on Friday.

She claimed the former North Melbourne player, who has not attended the hearings, inappropriately touched her in the 1980s and 90s when she was aged between eight and 14.

“He was rubbing my breasts and he had started to move his hands down south,” she said as she detailed one of the alleged incidents.

“It’s so weird, his face changed and I had never seen him like that before.”

She also said he offered her money to repeat the abuse on another occasion.

The woman who launched the legal action against Cable claims he started abusing her when she was about 13 in the late 1960s.

It allegedly continued through her teenage years and escalated from sexualised conversations and unwanted touching to “degrading” sexual violence and forceful intercourse.

During one incident, Cable allegedly forcibly sexually assaulted the then-teen at the Perth Football Club in 1971, where he was both captain and coach.

Cable also allegedly “relentlessly” assaulted her in his garden shed, his car and at a public swimming pool, and in his family home while his wife and children slept.

The assaults allegedly continued even when the woman became an adult and got married, with Cable accused of stalking her and coercing her to have sex on numerous occasions at her home and in hotel rooms.

Cable claims the pair had a consensual relationship but the woman has denied this and gave confronting evidence to the court for two days about the alleged emotional and physical abuse.

She also detailed the trauma and tragic consequences she has suffered, including lifelong mental and physical health issues that have impacted her marriage, relationships, education and ability to work.

The trial continues.

– AAP

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