Frank Zumbo has defended his behaviour while running the office of former federal MP Craig Kelly, denying allegations he inappropriately touched women working in the office, or kissed them against their will.
He told Sydney’s Downing Centre local court he always treated women in the office with respect, saying if they said they did not want to be kissed on the cheek or hugged, he would accede to that.
“I would ask them if they were comfortable with a social greeting, and some of them said ‘no’… and I respected that.”
Francesco “Frank” Zumbo, 55, has pleaded not guilty to 20 charges, including sexual touching and indecent assault, related to accusations made by five women between 2014 and 2020.
Zumbo was asked about secretly recorded conversations between him and one of his alleged victims, a woman he’d hired when she was a teenager to work in Kelly’s office.
In one exchange he said: “I thought you’d give me kisses and cuddles. It does seem now you’re only doing it because I get angry if you don’t do it.”
He told the court on Thursday: “The kisses and cuddles were always in the context of a thank you kiss … not to do it because of an obligation”.
In another exchange, Zumbo told the alleged victim “I’m falling in love with you”. In another he said “you know I adore you, you know I have feelings for you, you know that I’m attracted to you”.
He explained this in court on Thursday as a “platonic love, an agape love, not an erotic love”.
“Having spent a great deal of time with [the alleged victim] I had a lot of respect for [her], I idolised [her], I put her on a pedestal.
“She was a complete political package, I fell in love with what she represented.”
But the relationship was “volatile”, he said. He testified he felt “used”, and that the victim was manipulating him so he would help her with her university assignments.
“[She] was an incredibly sneaky person,” he told the court. “It was my worst fear was that someone would make a false allegation.”
The alleged victim, who cannot legally be named, gave evidence this week, telling the court Zumbo would regularly grope her in the office, grabbing her breasts when he hugged and kissed her each morning and evening.
She said he touched her vagina when they were sitting alone in a car, or in Kelly’s office. On one occasion, he forcibly kissed her on the lips when they were alone in the office, she alleged.
Zumbo said he hugged and kissed all of the women who worked in the office on the cheek, describing it as a reflection of his “Italian heritage” and his wanting to create “a family environment” in the office.
He denied any inappropriate or sexualised touching or ever kissing the alleged victim on the lips.
Describing himself as a “political talent scout”, Zumbo said he had devoted significant time and energy into the alleged victim’s political career.
“I got Craig [Kelly] elected. I could have got her elected.”
Asked by magistrate Gareth Christofi whether the woman had the potential to be a federal minister, or even the prime minister, Zumbo said “yes … she could be a prime minister”.
“That’s how strongly I felt about [her], about her as a political person.”
Earlier, the court heard evidence from a close friend of the alleged victim. The friend told the court that on one occasion, the alleged victim arrived at her house, crying after work.
“She was crying when she came in and she wouldn’t let me touch her. She went straight to my bathroom. She said ‘please don’t hug me’ and she pushed me away and went to have a shower.”
“When she came out, I wanted to know what she was upset about. It took a while to get it out of her, she was reluctant to answer my questions … she didn’t want to use the word vagina. She said ‘he touched my vagina like you would if you were pleasuring yourself’.”
The friend said the alleged victim told her Zumbo had said to her: “this is what a man does when he loves you”.
The court also heard testimony from the alleged victim’s sister, who also worked in Kelly’s office with Zumbo. The sister testified she was uncomfortable with being kissed and hugged every day in the office and with Zumbo grabbing her thigh when they were sitting in a car together.
She said she didn’t complain or resist because to do so would spark an often-hours-long harangue: “not a conversation, he would just talk at me”.
