Aspiring rugby player Connor Lind, 23, is accused of performing painful sex act on girl, 14, who was saving herself for marriage

WARNING: Graphic content

An underage teenage girl who claims she performed sex acts on a promising rugby player and cheerleader denies she only cuddled him in his bedroom, a court has been told.

Connor Lind, 23, is due to appear in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court after pleading not guilty to a series of charges and denying sexual acts with two underage girls.

Mr Lind has pleaded not guilty to four charges of sexual intercourse with a child and one charge of intentional sexual contact with a child.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, he had anal, oral and digital sex with a girl who was 14 years old at the time.

He also denies putting his hand down the same girl’s pants while sitting on the couch at his parents’ house in Allambie Heights on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

The girl was in eighth or ninth grade at the time of the alleged crimes, the court was told.

Mr Lind, through his lawyer Lisa-Claire Hutchinson, has denied having sexual contact with any of the girls, the court was told.

On Thursday, the jury played a video of the then 14-year-old boy’s pre-recorded statement.

During cross-examination of Mrs Hutchinson, she was asked whether she and Mr Lind would embrace in his room.

“Yes, we hugged,” the girl said.

“Connor says nothing sexual happened in that room,” Mrs. Hutchinson asked.

“Not true,” the girl replied.

The court heard that Mr Lind argued that he told the girl he “did not want to ruin his career” because of their age difference.

Mr Lind also claims he told the girl that ‘rugby players only show the worst of themselves in the media’.

The girl stated in her statement to the court that she could not remember those conversations.

The jury on Thursday also showed a video of a police interrogation with the girl, in which she describes in detail the sexual acts she says she participated in with Mr Lind.

The court heard that Mr Lind had anal sex with the girl in his room.

When an officer asked her if she had had anal sex with Mr. Lind, she replied, “Only once, it hurt too much.”

The court was told she later told him: “We’re not going to do that again.”

The girl told officers that she did not want to have penile-vaginal sex with Mr. Lind because of her religious beliefs and that she was waiting for marriage. However, at that point she agreed to anal sex because she felt it “didn’t count.”

She later stated in her testimony that her attitude towards what constituted “sex” had changed since then.

The girl also told officers that she had performed oral sex on Mr. Lind in the bathroom of his home.

The girl, whose identity cannot be released for legal reasons, also described an incident in which she alleged he put his hand down her pants, under her underwear, while they were sitting together on the couch watching television.

The court was told the incident was witnessed by another person in the room. The other person said ‘Jesus Christ’ and left, the girl told officers.

During her testimony in court, she stated that she could not remember the incident.

“I’ve mostly put it out of my mind,” the girl said, adding that she saw it as a way of coping.

The court heard that Mr Lind was between 19 and 20 years old at the time of the alleged offences.

Consent was not in question during the trial, but the alleged sexual acts took place at a time when both girls were minors.

He is also said to have put his hand down the pants of another 15-year-old girl at Dee Why Beach.

The court was told that one of the charges of sexual intercourse with a child relates to an accusation that he kissed the girl before putting his hand down her pants while they were in his car.

Mr Lind was arrested at Sutherland Police Station in August 2021 and does not deny knowing the girls were 14 and 15 at the time.

He denied performing sexual acts with both complainants, the court was told.

The trial before Judge John Pickering continues on Friday.