The man, who has interim name suppression, denies 13 charges of indecently assaulting children under the age of 12 on June 8, 10 and 14, 2017, at Alpine Aqualand, part of the Queenstown Events Centre.
Yesterday, Senior Sergeant Mark Gill, of Dunedin, told the jury in the Invercargill District Court that after the man was advised of his arrest he first said it was accidental and then said: "If you're swimming and accidentally touch someone in the lake, is that indecent?
"You can't even go for a nice swim now, eh?"
Snr Sgt Gill, formerly of Queenstown, said the initial complainant and her mother had left the facility by the time police arrived.
At the time, he understood that allegation involved touching to the genitals.
Snr Sgt Gill spoke to the defendant. However, another officer was approached by a man to ask if police were there about the "the girls being touched in the pool".
That man's daughter and her friend both alleged they had been touched on the legs in the lazy river that day.
At the time of the man's DVD interview later on June 14, police were aware of four complainants three on June 14 and one on June 8.
The man told Snr Sgt Gill he could not remember if he was at the pool on the first date, but said all three of the allegations from June 14 were "absolutely ludicrous" and he had spent "my whole time" trying to avoid bumping into anyone in the lazy river.
"Whenever I got close to them [other people] I stood up to make sure I made no contact." That was to "avoid allegations like this", he said.
He believed if someone had "tickled" a child between the legs whenever she passed him a lifeguard would have noticed.
Of the touching to the legs, he said he, too, had been touched in that way.
"The current's quite strong.
"You accidentally touch people as you're going around, but that's not intentional ... I touched a guy on the leg just before you turned up.
"You try to swim around them but you can't stop.
"More than likely it was [accidental] - I bumped into a few people, a lot of people bumped into me."
When Sgt Gill said the man had been identified by one of the children to her father, he responded: "Did she witness me touching her?"
Sgt Gill said she "pointed you out", to which the man replied "that doesn't mean she actually saw me touching her".
He then asked if the allegations were "just leg touching".
"The first one [of touching the genitals] is very serious.
"The second one seems like a bit of an overreaction for the touching of a leg."
The trial continues before Judge Mark Callaghan.
