A schoolboy described being kissed twice by a youth group leader and told a magistrate the man told him to tell his mother “you were just playing with the boys” after he rejected advances in a secluded spot.

And the boy’s mother told Magistrates’ Court she confronted the man who admitted kissing him on the cheek “because he loved him” but denied anything untoward had happened.

The man denies abusing his position of trust to touch an under-13 boy for sexual purposes in January — including pushing his tongue into the boy’s mouth. He cannot be named for legal reasons.

His alleged victim described how he’d attended the club for years — and was told on January 19 that he “got to do more things” at the club because he didn’t tell his mother everything.

He related how he’d been invited into the man’s bedroom to watch television, after his older brother got permission from his mother to leave him there.

“He came up behind me and kissed me on my cheek once,” the boy told the court. “After that, he kissed me two more times on that cheek.”

The accused then added “I love you so much”, the boy said, before kissing him on the neck and asking him if he’d “had enough love” — to which the boy replied that he had, saying the kisses made him feel “weird”.

To his shock, the boy said he was then kissed on the ear, leaving saliva behind. He was kissed on the corner and then the front of his mouth.

“As he was doing these various things to you, was he saying anything or doing anything?” asked Crown counsel Susan Mulligan. Answering yes, the boy replied: “Moaning.”

The man then pushed his tongue into the boy’s mouth, and he brought his teeth together so that “he wouldn’t be able to put his tongue all the way in my mouth”.

He said he’d felt scared, and had asked to call his mother to go home.

He told the prosecutor that the accused “told me if my mother asked, to tell her you were just playing with the boys” and recounted an earlier incident from the week before in which he’d been at the club with his brother and the man asked him to walk with him.

During the walk, the man spoke with some nearby fishermen and “after that, he took me through the trees” to a rocky, secluded spot where there was a small mattress.

The man sat on the mattress with the boy sitting on the ground.

“He came up behind me and kissed me on my cheek,” the boy said, followed by a kiss on the neck.

“After that, I reminded him he had to go back for the fish,” he said, adding that he’d done it “so we could leave”.

At that point his brother called on the accused’s cell phone, asking where he was, and the two returned to the club house.

Defence lawyer Auralee Cassidy then questioned the witness on his relationship with the accused, which he described as comfortable prior to the January incidents — including receiving hugs.

She asked the boy why he hadn’t revealed the second incident of kissing to the police until a second interview — and pointed out that he had been free to leave the accused man’s house.

The boy answered: “When he started to kiss me? No — I was shocked.”

When the defence put it to him that he’d fabricated the entire story in a bid to gain attention, the boy answered: “No — that’s not true.”

His older brother took the stand next, describing his sibling as affectionate and “a very happy and playful child”.

He told the court that on January 19, the accused, with whom he “got along well”, had suggested that he leave his younger brother behind at the house while he went to visit a friend.

The next day, he said, his younger brother seemed “nervous and frustrated”, and the house’s atmosphere tense, when he informed his mother of what had happened.

The boy’s mother gave evidence next, saying she’d known the accused for many years and that they spoke often on health matters.

“I’m not usually the person to leave my children with anyone,” she said,

Recalling getting the January 19 call from her young son asking if he could come home, she said: “I asked him if he was okay, because I didn’t usually get calls saying he wanted to come home. I usually got calls asking ‘Can I stay?’.”

Her suspicions were aroused when her son returned to the residence seeming quiet and withdrawn. “I just felt instinctively that something was amiss,” she told Ms Mulligan.

The boy maintained that he was all right, but on January 21 told her what had transpired in the bedroom of the accused man’s home, saying the kissing had made him angry and embarrassed.

She said she reported the matter to police, and also contacted the accused to speak with him.

The woman added that she’d recorded their conversation, and subsequently shared it with police.

“He admitted kissing him on the cheek. I think he admitted to being closer to his mouth. But he never admitted to things that would definitely show it was inappropriate. He kept avoiding that and going off on another topic, and I kept bringing him back to address it.”

When she demanded of the accused why he’d kissed her son, he replied: “Because I cared about him.”

She subsequently received a Facebook message from the accused, also shared with police, which opened: “Disappointment comes at various time in life.”

Included with references to God’s will, and the place of faith in human relationships, was the suggestion that she use “this incident to empower” her son. The trial continues on Monday.