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Hey Dad! star was in victim’s bedroom: court

An alleged victim of Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes says the former actor crept into her room while she slept, sexually assaulted her and licked her face.

Hughes is on trial in the Downing Centre District Court after pleading not guilty to 11 sexual and indecent assault offences.

It is alleged the 65-year-old, who played the character Martin Kelly in the 80’s TV show Hey Dad!, assaulted five girls in the 1980s and 1990s.

One alleged victim, who cannot be identified, recalled in court on Tuesday how, as a child, she once woke to find Hughes’ head 20cm away from her face.

He also had his hand down her pants, she told the court.

The victim said her parents and Hughes and his wife were friends and Hughes would often visit her family home in Sydney.

While she found him friendly at first, her view changed when he began touching her from age 11.

The woman told the court she was asleep in a single bed with another child when her parents were having a dinner party one night.

She said she woke up to Hughes kneeling down next to her bed with his hand in her pants.

“I didn’t know what to do, I was completely shocked and scared so I just closed my eyes,” she told the court.

The woman said she opened her eyes and saw Hughes looking to where his hand was.

“I pushed his hand away …” She said.

“He got up and before he went to leave he licked my right cheek, going up.”

The woman claimed Hughes crept into her room again during another party at her parents’ house and she again tried to move his hand away.

The woman said she told her mother about Hughes’ alleged behaviour when the two families were scheduled to go on a holiday together.

“I was embarrassed,” she told the court.

The trial continues.

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