Self-proclaimed healer Joseph Luke Williams speaks out against sexual assault allegations on day six of trial

Self-proclaimed Aboriginal healer Joseph Luke Williams has taken the stand on day six of his trial, denying allegations of sexual and indecent assault. Mr Williams, 58, is fighting 12 charges of sexual penetration without consent and two charges of indecent assault in a District Court trial in Albany. The State has alleged Mr Williams assaulted the women between 2010 and 2014 in Denmark, Stirling Range National Park, Perth, and Broome, with some of the allegations involving penetration by rocks which he claimed had healing powers. State prosecutor Beau Sertorio alleges Mr Williams, who lives in Denmark, abused his cultural knowledge, manipulating six women aged 18 to 34 for his own sexual gratification. Taking the stand in Albany this afternoon, Mr Williams told the jury his version of events and rejected the assault allegations. He told the court he met the first woman to give evidence at an Earth Day event. After the event, the woman approached him and showed interest in Noongar culture and “wild bush medicines”, telling him she was having trouble conceiving, Mr Williams said. Mr Williams denied claiming he was a “magic man”. He said the woman was “a bit cuddly” on their bush outings. When asked by his defence lawyer Bruno Illari if he touched her vagina on one occasion, he said it was unintentional. Mr Williams told the court his hand slipped onto her vagina while he was massaging her with cooking oil on a rock in Stirling Range National Park. He said they had sex on that trip to the Stirling Range, telling the court it was instigated by both of them. Mr Williams denied saying he needed to have sex with the woman to help with her fertility issues. When questioned about the allegation that he rubbed semen on the woman on a Broome trip in November 2010, he said it happened after they agreed to masturbate. He admitted to rubbing semen on her body but said it was a joke about sun protection. “We both saw the funny side of it,” Mr Williams told the court. The woman did not object to his actions, he said. Mr Williams said the woman called him a “sex guru” after asking about sexual position that could help her conceive with her FIFO-worker husband. When questioned by Mr Illari about another woman who was 18 years old at the time of the allegations, Mr Williams said the girl wanted to receive a “water nurture”. Floating the woman in Hay River, Mr Williams placed his left hand under her shoulders and his right hand at the base of her spine with a black stone resting on her tail bone, he told the court. Mr Williams said he never put a stone on her vagina or touched her vagina with his mouth or fingers. He denied all allegations of sexual assault or indecent assault from three other women. He is set to address the sixth woman’s allegations tomorrow. The trial continues.