Police officers called a Sydney swim instructor a "disgusting pedo" and were laughing about what would happen to him in jail after he was arrested for sexually touching his students, a jury has heard.
Kyle Daniels was in the witness box on Tuesday when he described feeling scared after he was taken into custody but was treated well by one officer to whom he later wrote a note.
"Thank you for treating me like a human being it meant the world to me," he said he wrote.
The 22-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 26 charges, including multiple counts of having sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and indecently assaulting a person under 16.
He is accused of touching nine of his students aged between five and 10 on or near their genitals while instructing them between February 2018 and February 2019 at a pool on Sydney's north shore.
The former swim instructor repeatedly said "definitely no", and "definitely not" when asked by his barrister Leslie Nicholls if he intentionally touched his students on their private parts.
Daniels recalled a "plain clothes" man setting up a camera outside his house and following him to Manly Police Station on the day of his arrest in March 2019.
After he refused to make a statement or be interviewed he noticed officers sitting behind the desk while he was "trying to remain calm".
"Calling me a disgusting pedo ... laughing about what would happen to me in jail," he said.
The court earlier heard he transferred from working at Ravenswood School for Girls before moving to the north shore centre in 2016.
He distinctly remembered one of his former students who later made an allegation against him but denied ever assaulting her.
"She was a fairly troublesome student, she wouldn't listen to instructions very well and was often unnecessarily argumentative with me," he said.
Daniels' evidence continues before Judge Kara Shead in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court.
