During a judge-alone trial in the Newcastle District court on Thursday, Mr Hall variously accused the Crown Prosecutor Kristy Mulley of "being cynical", ''splitting hairs'', and not asking the right questions.

He denied taking a Year 10 boy on a trip to a property in 1974 and driving to a secluded location with the intention of sexually assaulting him.

When asked about the details of the acts alleged - that he squeezed the boys genitals after making up a story about showing him pressure points on the boy's body, he said that was "a grub act", and a falsehood.

When it was put to him that he called the trip off early because he didn't get the sexual interest he was looking for, Mr Hall said that was "a complete lie".

When asked if he was a drinker, Mr Hall said he was not. He later conceded that he regularly drank wine with a meal but then when asked the same question during a trial in September of 2018, he took the question as only relating to beer because people in Newcastle only drank beer in the 70s.

Mr Hall said he never took students on trips away, that he only ever took 'old boys', that is, only once the students had left school. He denied going away on a trip with the complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in 1974, saying he thought it was 1976. He later said it was 1975.

"If my memory there was wrong by a month or two I am sorry," he said. "We went on this trip on the week after Gough Whitlam was sacked in 1975 because he was asking me questions about it in the car on the way there and he ... asked me who I was going to vote for," Mr Hall said.

Mr Hall gave evidence that the complainant was a good student, and that he was good fighter - he had seen him in a couple of fights in the school playground.

But he denied taking a special interest in the student.

Mr Hall has been charged with two counts of indecent assault. Both the prosecution and the defence are expected to deliver their closing addresses on Friday before Judge Ian Bourke.

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