A distraught mother recounted in court how she considered killing the man who had allegedly molested her seven-year-old daughter.

The accused, a 40-year-old Somerset man, has denied four counts of sexually exploiting the child on unknown dates between August 1 and September 30, 2013.

“I wanted to set him up and drown him,” the woman told the Supreme Court, when asked why she hadn’t taken her suspicions to the police.

“I found out what times he went to work and came from work. I wanted to get him drunk, tie him up and throw him overboard.”

Neither the accused nor the victim can be identified for legal reasons.

The woman said she’d known the accused for ten years, and that her young daughter had viewed him as a father figure, calling him “uncle”.

“One time she told me, ‘I wish he was my daddy’,” she added.

Asked why she sounded angry, the witness replied: “Because I’m upset. I’m angry. I trusted in him ­— and my children trusted in him.”

Crown counsel Nicole Smith asked her what had derailed their friendship.

“It changed the day my daughter came home — she had a look on her face and she told me that her privates were burning,” the witness said.

The child seemed “sad, upset” and told her that “uncle” had done something to her.

“Did you tell a friend or a relative that evening?” Ms Smith asked her. “Why didn’t you go to the police that evening?”

“Because I wanted to deal with it myself,” the witness replied.

On a date in late August or early September, while she was cleaning her house, the defendant had dropped by and offered to take her son and daughter swimming at 9 Beaches, to which she agreed.

She said she’d expected her children home early for a church choir practice at 5pm, but had called around 3pm to find that they were down at Whale Bay instead.

However, at 5.30pm, she said she’d been called by the children’s great aunt saying they weren’t at the church.

She said she’d initially asked the defendant to make sure both children showered before going to the church, but called him later to tell him not to bother, and to proceed straight to church.

A church member later brought home her son, who was still in swimming clothes, and her daughter, who had been bathed and was dressed in clean clothes. She said she’d had the conversation with her daughter that evening.

Asked why she kept in touch with the accused after that talk, the witness said: “Because I didn’t want him to know that I knew what he’d done to her.

“I wanted to take matters into my own hands.”

She later described being taken by the accused to a West End home where groceries were being distributed to needy families. She was given groceries, but then discovered that the accused had left with her children.

“I came out looking for her, screaming her name,” she said. “I jumped in my car and went home.”

She found her son at the residence, but not her daughter, who she found at the defendant’s home.

“Once she got into the car, she said, ‘Mother — he tried to do it again’,” she said.

“At this point in time, I went home and put a baseball bat in my car. I was going to find him, to look for him. Something came over me; I didn’t do it. I did not pursue it.”

Again, she didn’t tell authorities.

“I didn’t want him to know,” she said. “I wanted to kill him ... I wanted to deal with it myself and I didn’t want him to find out that I knew.”

On October 22 of last year, following a family conference on the matter — and after her aunt had taken the daughter to the hospital — the matter was reported to police.

Defence lawyer Kenville Savoury suggested his client had in fact offered early in the day of the outing to take her children directly to the church, but the witness denied it.

“You gave a second statement to police on May 2, just a few days ago,” Mr Savoury said. “It was only then that you told police that you had been seriously thinking of killing him. Why did you not tell police that before?”

“Because I thought I would have incriminated myself — because I was going to harm him,” she answered.

“I suggest you merely said that in order to try and give a reason why you didn’t report it in the first place.”

“Not true, sir,” the witness said.

Mr Savoury asked why she’d allowed the accused to come around her house if she felt in fear of her life.

“I was scouting him out,” she said. “I never felt this bad about nobody before.”

The trial continues today.