A youth leader accused of sexually exploiting a 13-year-old boy has angrily denied the charges against him, telling Magistrates’ Court he felt “shocked and betrayed” by the allegations.

The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took the stand in his defence against the two charges from January of last year.

“I feel betrayed — I’m more angry and upset with the mother than I am with the boy because I know this is where it’s coming from,” the accused said. “But hurting people hurt others. I feel sorry for her because she is a hurting individual. The boy knows I would not harm a hair on his head.”

The accused also said he believed the complainant had been coerced by family into fabricating his account of being kissed on the face and neck on January 5, 2013, and again on January 19, with the man pushing his tongue into his mouth.

“The only reason the boy would tell lies about me was because of her,” he maintained, telling Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo the child’s mother must have made the complaint feel “uncomfortable”.

“I know it’s out of fear — that’s why he would make these statements against me,” he said, further describing the complainant as “very affectionate” but also “mischievous”.

And he told Mr Tokunbo: “This isn’t the first time this woman has lied and made false allegations.”

Asked by defence lawyer Auralee Cassidy what he wished to tell the court about the case, the accused replied: “All I’m going to say is these accusations made against me are false. Okay? Your honour, I had my own soul searching in reference to this, and the answer came to me very clearly — that there’s a lot of trouble going on in that family.”

The accused, who identified himself as a behavioural therapist, takes part in a youth group that had been attended by the boy and his older brother.

He readily admitted kissing the boy on the cheek, telling Ms Cassidy: “I loved him like he was my own son. He’s a lovable child. I enjoyed having him around for years — it’s not like this was a stranger from off the street. That’s the type of relationship we had.”

He described the child’s household as “strict” and “secretive”.

Speaking of the January 19 incident, which took place at the premises of the youth group, the accused said: “He was excited to see me that day. In fact, he brought me a picture. He was just happy to see me — and I was happy to see him.”

On that day, he said they had been “skylarking” together — “I was tickling him, acting silly” — and the accused made a roaring sound “pretending to be a lion”.

In earlier evidence, the boy had said the accused made a moaning sound while kissing him.

Asked if the boy had asked him not to kiss him or told him that he made him feel uncomfortable, the accused replied: “Never.”

Ms Cassidy subsequently asked: “What do you say about these allegations made against you?”

“They are false,” the accused replied. “I was shocked — I felt a sense of betrayal. They’re filthy and disgusting. You can imagine all these years I’ve known this family and tried to help this family, just like any other family in this community. So I felt shocked.

“You also heard evidence that he says you put your mouth to his ear — any response to that?”

The accused replied: “Yes. That never happened.”

Under questioning from Crown counsel Susan Mulligan, the accused admitted that although he had identified himself as a behavioural therapist, he wasn’t actually licensed as such.

Ms Mulligan went through a 45-page transcript of a conversation the accused had, following January 21, 2012, with the complainant’s mother and her partner.

The accused, who was unaware of being recorded at the time, called it “an illegal recording”.

Ms Mulligan told him he didn’t sound particularly shocked by the allegations made during the recordings, when he repeatedly responded with “Yes”, “Okay” and “Uh-huh”.

The accused said he’d been unwell at the time, and told the court: “There is shock — she is saying I kissed him for sexual reasons.”

He said his responses had only been to acknowledge that she was speaking with him, adding: “I was not agreeing with what she was saying to me.”

The accused also said: “The point I was trying to make to her is that since you seem to think that his feelings were hurt, it was important that I apologise to him. I am going by what she thinks happened. I am not necessarily agreeing.”