Trial begins against former Hey Dad! star

A jury has started hearing evidence in the trial of actor Robert Hughes who is facing child sex offences.

The former Hey Dad! star is on trial for 11 charges involving girls aged from 7 to 15.

The 64-year-old has pleaded not guilty to committing the offences between 1985 and 1990.

Prosecutor Gina O’Rourke told Downing Centre District Court one of the girls who was assaulted during a sleepover was frightened and crying and her mother confronted Hughes over the allegations.

On one occasion a victim was allegedly asleep at Hughes’ home when he entered a bedroom and sexually assaulted her.

The court heard another complainant had a sleepover at Hughes’ home in the 1980s when he allegedly used her hand to masturbate him as she lay on a mattress on a bedroom floor.

He then allegedly placed her bed covers on her, called her a good girl, handed her a teddy bear and said “go back to sleep.”

The prosecutor said Hughes also exposed himself to a girl near the set of Hey Dad!

She said he “pulled down his underpants over his buttocks, exposing his penis”.

Hughes was extradited from London to Sydney in 2012.

The trial is expected to last for several weeks.

Source: ABC, AAP