Martial arts instructor charged after alleged sexual assault of boy in Sydney’s west

A bail application at Fairfield Local Court on Wednesday was told that Mr Barnes, who has his students call him Master Chris, was already facing separate charges relating to intentionally sexually touching another student between the ages of 10 and 16.

The court heard the 33-year-old had pleaded not guilty to that charge in November last year.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Mr Barnes appeared via an audio-visual link where his lawyer, Michael Fokkes, said there were serious doubts about the police case against his client and said there could be collusion between the two families of his alleged victims.

Mr Fokkes said, since the first charges were laid against Mr Barnes, CCTV had been installed at the martial arts studio.