<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Disgraced football legend Barry Cable should be saved from jail by his wife's evidence, his lawyer says.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cable's trial over child sexual abuse charges was told his wife had delivered a "telling blow" to the prosecution's case.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The 82-year-old former Australian rules player is fighting a slew of historical child sexual abuse accusations relating to a girl aged about eight or nine in a criminal trial in Perth.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/alex-johnston-nrl-record-breaking-try-pm-anthony-albanese-joins-crowd-swarming-pitch/0abc0024-ede6-44b9-a054-f0035e5f2c99"><strong><span>Albanese says risk of fine 'worth it' to join celebration as Alex Johnston makes NRL history</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He allegedly abused the child at his family home in the late 1960s when she was staying with Cable and his wife Helen for about a month.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He denies the claims.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cable's lawyer Tom Percy said the case against his client was unsalvageable and there were no witnesses or forensic evidence to back the complainant's claims.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/barry-cable-trial-weeks-until-child-sex-accused-footy-champ-learns-fate/29313830-7e4e-4322-80de-0f9487f05648" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The woman's description of where the offending allegedly took place was "seriously flawed and casts doubt on whether the events ever happened", he told the WA District Court during his closing submissions on Friday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Our case is the allegations are simply false."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Percy said a series of official documents from the early 1970s the prosecution said showed the girl stayed with the Cables were misinterpreted and show the former North Melbourne player had no opportunity to abuse her because the dates didn't line up.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The only reasonable inference is she never went (to the Cables)," Percy said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/insufficient-evidence-to-charge-trio-connected-to-dezi-freeman-case-police-say/972e4cb9-0491-4416-9036-d0d5e7423ee5"><strong><span>Dezi Freeman's wife won't be charged over hunt for accused cop-killer</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prosecution evidence from three other women who claim Cable sexually abused them was of limited value and couldn't salvage the case against his client because the alleged offending was different and the child victims were older, he told the court.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You can't fill the unfillable void of the prosecution's case," Percy said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The height of it is, he may have had an interest in little girls."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mrs Cable was a credible, reliable and remarkable witness, who had provided clarity about the events of the past, he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The telling blow in this case was Helen Cable's evidence," Percy said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The prosecution case simply can't survive."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prosecutor Kim Jennings said Cable's alleged offending was brazen.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She asked Judge Michael Bowden for latitude over the woman's inability to accurately identify the location where Cable allegedly abused her.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She's remembering back 60 years and remembering as a small child," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This is a child who had a pretty traumatic start to life.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"What stands out is the sexual abuse, not the details of where it happened."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/petrol-australia-energy-minister-chris-bowen-lashes-motorists-for-hoarding-fuel/b4449e6e-74b9-43f8-8dc8-18d893ff2674"><strong><span>Energy minister unleashes over 'un-Australian' petrol act</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mrs Cable had not been truthful while giving evidence and had tried to minimise Cable and her family's links to the child in a bid to protect her husband, Jennings said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The complainant had recalled intimate details about the abuse she had endured and should be believed, she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She didn't complain at the time because Cable told her she wouldn't be believed because he was Barry Cable, Jennings said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Barry Cable thought he was invincible," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He had a very successful football career, and he was quite famous in the community."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cable has denied five counts of indecent dealing with a girl aged under 13 and two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 13 between December 31, 1966 and December 31, 1969.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A civil trial previously found Cable abused a different girl over five years from 1968 when she was aged 12.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The civil trial judge said there was compelling evidence the former footballer had violated other children.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Cable denied the abuse.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He was later stripped of his Australian Football Hall of Fame honours following an illustrious playing career in the 1960s and '70s for Perth and East Perth in the WAFL and North Melbourne in the VFL, going on to coach in both leagues.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Judge Bowden reserved his verdict until a date no later than April 17.</span></div></div>