The woman told a committal hearing at the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Wednesday her son and the accused, Kyle Sinclair, became dependent on one another before she found out the accused had allegedly been sexually abusing him.

It is alleged Sinclair sexually assaulted the adolescent, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on eight occasions between January 2010 and January 2014.

The court heard the boy was involved in a sport with the accused and would stay over at his house so they could attend training early in the morning.

On a number of occasions the two also went camping with others around the Ballarat region.

The boy’s mother told the court the relationship between the two eventually changed and was becoming “scary”, at which point she decided to intervene and distance her son from Sinclair.

“As time went on the relationship with Kyle intensified and he became dependent,” the mother told the court.

“We became very concerned about the dependency.”

Towards the end of the relationship she said her son began to feel pressured by Sinclair to spend time with him.

She also told the court a number of people told her about allegations of Sinclair making inappropriate advances towards young men, but at the time she “was unsure of what the true story was”.

Her son later told her what had allegedly occurred between the two of them when he was younger.

She said her son told her Sinclair had physically and mentally abused him from the age of 10 for a number of years.

A second witness, who conceded she did not know the full details of the allegations, told the court she had been at the same property every night the boy stayed.

A further witness and the police informant are due to give evidence on September 27. 

The hearing continues.