A witness has told a New South Wales court, he froze with fear when former Labor minister Milton Orkopoulos sexually abused him.
Key points:
- Mr Orkopoulos is standing trial for 28 charges including child sex abuse
- The witness said Mr Orkopoulos offered him a joint before abusing him
- The former NSW Labor minister has pleaded not guilty
Mr Orkopoulos, 65, is standing trial for 28 charges including child sex abuse and drug supply offences, in relation to four boys around Lake Macquarie and on the Mid-North Coast between 1993 and 2003.
A witness who can’t be identified for legal reasons, told the District Court he met the former MP through his grandmother, about 1998 when Mr Orkopoulos was the Member for Swansea.
The witness said he was aged 11 at the time and his grandmother was concerned he had some behaviour problems after the death of some family members.
He said his grandmother knew Mr Orkopoulos for a long time and thought it would be good for him to talk to the MP to get some advice.
Mr Orkopoulos allegedly closed his office door and touched the witness on the leg during the 15-minute meeting.
A week or so later the witness said he was leaving a friend’s house when Mr Orkopoulos pulled up in his car, told him to get in and drove to nearby bushland where he offered him a joint and had one himself.
“I thought it was cool I was doing it with him, because he’s an adult’ he said.
The witness said Mr Orkopoulos then took his penis out of his pants and pushed his head towards it.
“I froze. I felt embarrassed and ashamed.
“I felt confused and didn’t understand why, because I didn’t know much about sex at the time.
“He was an adult. I just done what I was told.”
The witness said Mr Orkopoulos gave him drugs and forced him to perform sex acts on numerous other occasions.
He said on one occasion he was crying when the former MP sodomised him because it “went forever”.
The court heard Mr Orkopoulos told the witness to put his clothes back on, before dropping him off in a McDonald’s car park.
“He told me not to say anything because no one would believe me.
‘I went home and jumped in the shower because I felt dirty.”
The witness said he told no one about the alleged abuse unto he made a police statement in September 2020
Milton Orkopoulos has pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues before Judge Jane Culver.