Wife of Australian footballer Barry Cable takes stand in his child sex abuse trial

The wife of Barry Cable, the former footballer on trial for allegedly sexually abusing a child from an orphanage in the early stages of his illustrious career, has testified in defence of her famous husband.

WARNING: This story contains details about alleged sexual assault some readers may find distressing.

Mr Cable, who was once inducted into the Australian Football League Hall of Fame, is on trial in Perth accused of sexually abusing a girl aged under 13 in the late 1960s.

The WA District Court has heard the girl was abused at Mr Cable's home, where she stayed for some weeks, after he and his wife Helen picked her up from an orphanage.

The woman, now in her 60s, testified that Mr Cable would come into her room when Helen was asleep and abuse her.

But Mrs Cable, who's been married to the 82-year-old since 1965, told the court the girl had never stayed with them in any of the suburban Perth homes they lived in before Mr Cable went to play for North Melbourne — the club where he later won two premierships.

Mrs Cable also said she had not heard of the orphanage where the girl was staying until recently, and she and her husband had never visited there.

She also said Mr Cable never spent that much time alone at their home.

"Can't imagine it ever happened," she said.

Girl 'never' stayed at Cable home

Under questioning from Prosecutor Kim Jennings, Mrs Cable repeatedly denied the girl had stayed with them.

Ms Jennings showed Mrs Cable documents from the early 1970s that suggested the girl had stayed with the Cables before, and had been welcome to stay with them on weekends.

"Never happened," Mrs Cable said.

"I wasn't well at the time."

Earlier on Thursday, a relative of the alleged victim told the court the girl had confided in her decades ago that Mr Cable "molested her".

She said the alleged victim told her Barry Cable "touched her and made her do stuff to him, sexually".

The court has heard the alleged victim was about 9 or 10 years of age when she stayed at the family home where Mr Cable forced her to perform sexual acts on him.

On Tuesday, she testified Mr Cable told her if she told anyone, "they wouldn't believe me because he was Barry Cable".

She denied claims from Mr Cable's lawyer that she only came forward to police about the abuse because she "wanted to cash in".

Damages were awarded to another woman in 2023 after a civil case involving Mr Cable.

Mr Cable was considered a champion footballer, winning three WAFL premierships with Perth in the 1960s.

He was captain-coach of the East Perth team that won the premiership in 1978.

He also won three Sandover Medals for being the WAFL's best and fairest player.

After moving to Victoria in the 1970s, he won two VFL premierships with North Melbourne, in 1975 and 1977, and returned to coach the side in the 1980s.

Barry Cable did not take the stand to testify in his own defence, and the case is expected to hear closing arguments on Friday.

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