A NSW magistrate accused of abusing a teenage boy has told a court it was a "needless expense" to pay for an extra room when they travelled together.
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Graeme Bryan Curran, 68, has pleaded not guilty in the NSW District Court to indecently assaulting the boy nine times between 1981 and 1983 when he was aged between 13 and 15.
The childless magistrate is accused of grooming the boy, sleeping naked with him and performing a Saturday morning "ritual" on him which involved massaging him and touching his penis.
During cross-examination on Thursday, Curran denied ever abusing the boy or sleeping naked with him but admitted they often shared a bed.
The magistrate said paying for an extra room on holidays was a "needless expense" and that he "didn't have any money to throw away".
"It was part of the reason I could afford to take him (on holidays)," he said.
Curran denied grooming the boy with overseas holidays, a new car for his parents and giving him more than $34,000 when he was an adult.
"I had some money and they had a big need," he said of the decision to buy the family a brand-new car.
"I had no one that I could bestow generosity on that needed it."
Prosecutor Mark Hobart SC suggested Curran told the young boy about the sexual relationships between adult men and pre-pubescent boys in Ancient Greece.
"It was a way of explaining away your behaviour towards him," Mr Hobart said.
Curran denied telling the boy about the practice but said another family friend had "talked about it openly in (the boy's) presence in a very exaggerated way".
Mr Hobart said Curran surrounded himself with young boys through volunteer work and that he had a "sexual desire" towards the victim that he could not control.
"What I suggest to you, sir, is that you have many fine qualities but you have a weakness when it comes to your affection for boys," he said.
"No," Curran replied.
His long-term neighbours Judith Simpson and her son Edward also testified for the defence, describing Curran as an "eccentric relative that would come over for dinner" weekly.
"I would express a lot of love to him, he would express a lot of love to me," 24-year-old Edward said, adding that he still hugs the magistrate.
The trial continues before Acting Judge Anthony Rafter.
Australian Associated Press
