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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National

'Improbable' Orkopoulos would party with skating teens, jury told

Milton Orkopoulos.

Claims former NSW Labor member Milton Orkopoulos sexually abused four teenage boys decades ago were improbable, inconsistent and should be rejected, jurors have heard.

Details in the claims of four complainants, including that the now 65-year-old would smoke cigarettes outside his electoral office in Swansea with young boys and that he openly invited them back to socialise, were so unlikely that they did not happen, defence barrister Paul Johnson told jurors on Monday.

"Do you really seriously see the member for Swansea having ... a whole bunch of skateboarding teenagers coming down to the office for a party?" he said in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court.

Orkopoulous has denied any wrongdoing, pleading not guilty to 28 charges, including sexual offences against four underage boys he allegedly supplied drugs to over a decade, ending in 2003.

He has also been accused of perverting the course of justice by asking one complainant to retract an allegation and of supplying prohibited drugs to the alleged victims.

Mr Johnson said his client had given honest evidence in the witness box and had obviously denied the allegations made against him.

"If he were actually innocent, what could he say except, 'I didn't do it?' I mean what else could one say?" the barrister asked.

Mr Johnson asked the jury to find the former MP not guilty on all counts, saying evidence from the alleged victims was inconsistent, improbable and had timelines that did not make sense.

One complainant said he had first divulged the alleged assault to an inmate while he was in prison.

This man did not exist on records examined by NSW Police or corrective services, the jury was told.

Another said he was screaming in pain during one alleged assault in Orkopoulos' office with nothing but a pane of glass and venetian blinds blocking the sound from being heard by passersby outside.

"When you look at what each of these four complainants allege against him ... you would be left with reasonable doubt about each and every one of their allegations," Mr Johnson said.

The trial continues.

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