Former Eyre Peninsula couple jailed over bakery ‘sex cult’ that involved teen girls in 1980s

A man who had three children with three different women in seven months in an Eyre Peninsula sex “cult” at his bakery has been jailed – along with his ex-wife.

A former couple has been jailed for the “vile” sexual abuse they inflicted on two young girls working at their family bakery from the age of 15.

The man and woman, who can’t be identified to protect the victims’ identity, appeared in the District Court on Thursday where they learned their fate.

The pair were previously found guilty of the sexual abuse of two young girls after a lengthy trial at the end of last year.

The male, 69, was charged with sexual abuse of a child, unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault whereas the woman, 68, was charged with sexual abuse of a child and unlawful sexual intercourse.

In sentencing, Judge Emily Telfer referred to the crimes as “vile” and stressed the everlasting impact the abuse would have on the victims.

“(A victim) has shown extraordinary strength and resilience in court on each occasion, her determination to achieve justice for herself and for your other victims has resulted in a jury verdict which has exposed each of your vile crimes,” she said.

“Although (a victim) was not a very young child at the time of your offending, she was immature and naive.

“She was just entering the workplace and she was entitled to be safe, you exploited her emotional vulnerabilities and I find that you deliberately isolated her from her family and her social connections.

“You sexually exploited her and normalised her participation as a third party in your marriage, your abuse of her and the subsequent trauma has dominated her life.”

Judge Telfer also said she received letters from two children belonging to one victim and the man, and another from one child belonging to another victim and the man, in favour of their father.

“Each of those letters describe a positive relationship that they have with you and speak of a father who was devoted to them,” she said.

“I am cautious placing much weight at all on those letters, you had the positive relationship that each of your children perceives because of your abuse and manipulation of their mothers.”

Judge Telfer said she found reason not to sentence the female as a repeat offender as she was involved in the abuse only as a result of her husband.

“Your sexual offending occurred only in the context of participating in the offending with the (the man),” she said.

“You were stuck in a dysfunctional relationship with (the man) both because you feared losing your children if you left him and because you could not have more children without him.

“Against all I’ve said about the circumstances you were in, you were an adult and your part in the offending was significant.”

The offending, which one of the victim’s brothers referred to as a “cult-like” situation, resulted in the man having three children with three women in only seven months – though it’s unclear how old the two girls were at the time.

“In fact, in about the space of seven months, (the male accused) had three different children by the three different women that were living in his house,” prosecutor Lisa Dunlop said in her opening address.

The man was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 11 years, two months and 13 days.

The woman was sentenced to eight years imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years.

Both sentences were backdated to December 2023 when they were found guilty by jury.