I am innocent, says Randell

Randell said he had never done any more than pat a girl on the back or shoulder while he was a Grade Six teacher at a Catholic school in Burnie.

The prosecution completed its case today after four more women gave evidence that he had touched them indecently at school or in their bedroom in 1982.

Two of the women gave evidence by video-link from a court room in Sydney.

Before Randell went into the witness box, Justice Peter Underwood directed the jury of nine men and three women to acquit him on one charge because no evidence about it had been called.

Randell, who gave his occupation as schoolteacher and cricket umpire following theallegations, said the Burnie position in 1981 was his first after graduating aged 24.

He said he might touch students by patting them on the shoulder or back if they had done a good job or something had gone wrong.

But he had never put his hand under a skirt or shirt.

A woman told a court at Hobart on Wednesday that she had not complained about Randell stroking her in her bedroom when she was 11 because he had power over her.

The woman, who was taught by Randell at a Tasmanian school in 1981, said she was anxious to get through the school year and he had the power to hold her back.

The woman said about once a fortnight Randell would call her to the front of the class to read a story.

He would put his arm around her, sometimes pulling out her shirt, rub her back and stomach and work his way up to her breasts, she claimed.

At other times, she told the court she could see his arm around other girls and movement under their clothes.

The woman said Randell frequently and unexpectedly visited herhome and on five or six occasions came into her bedroom and sat on her bed, talking to her and rubbing her body.

She said the rubbing was 8220;all very gradual and slow8221;, moving under the bedclothes to her pyjama top and then on to her skin.

Once her mother came in when he was lounging on the bed and touching her, the court heard.

He removed his hand, stood up and left.

The woman said that after a time she 8220;wised up8221; and when Randell visited, she would hurry to bed, turn the light out and pretend to be asleep.

On one occasion in 1981 when Randell was at their home, he said he was going to the toilet but when he had not returned after about 15 minutes, the woman8217;s mother said she went looking for him and found him in her daughter8217;s bedroom.

He was lying on the top of the bed with his head on the pillow, she told the court.

8220;I was horrified,8221; the mother said. 8220;I said Look Stephen, you had better come out and have a cup of coffee8217;.8221;

He got up and followed her to the kitchen where he toldher he had craved affection since his mother died.

Randell is Australia8217;s most experienced international cricket umpire with a record 36 Tests to his name. The trial continues tomorrow.