The man, who cannot be identified, was arraigned in Newcastle District Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 10 and six counts of indecent assault.

During his opening address, Crown prosecutor Mark Hay told the jury the trial would likely come down to whether or not they believed the evidence of the alleged victim.

Court news: The Newcastle Herald

"She will give her evidence," Mr Hay said. "She will tell you she has a distinct recollection of three separate occasions back in 1996 when she was four and when the accused did certain things to her or had her do certain things to him. There are no independent eye-witnesses to any of these incidents. Nobody who discovers the accused in the act. No one is going to say "I saw what he did to the complainant". It's really going to come down to [the alleged victim] herself."

Mr Hay said the prosecution case was that the alleged sexual and indecent assaults occurred on three occasions at two properties in Newcastle between January 1, 1996, and September 6, 1996.

The Crown prosecutor said the alleged assaults ceased after the girl's grandfather discovered her and the accused in a dark room in his house.

As a result of that discovery, the girl was taken to the doctor, a report was made to the then Department of Community Services (DoCS) and the police were notified.

"What you will hear from a number of witnesses is that those steps, talking to the GP, DoCS and the police, ultimately resulted in no further action," Mr Hay said.

"A decision was made that these allegations would be dealt with in-house, that is within the family."

Mr Hay said the alleged victim was a four-year-old and could not have been a "meaningful participant" in that decision.

She came forward decades later and spoke to police.