Mother and her partner found guilty of abusing daughter for a period of five years in the Riverland, Barossa and Whyalla

A mother took her 12-year-old daughter to a GP to get the contraceptive pill – the reason why was too monstrous to imagine.

A 12-year-old girl was prescribed the contraceptive pill by a doctor after being told the child was “sexually active” by her mother, who was secretly abusing the girl along with her partner, a court has ruled.

On Wednesday, the child’s biological mother and her partner were both found guilty of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child and remanded in custody.

During the trial before District Court Judge Emily Telfer who presided over the case without a jury the court heard the mother would lie next to the girl playing on her phone or watching TV while her child was abused.

In her published verdict, Judge Telfer found that family moved around South Australia.

At various times they lived in the Riverland, the Barossa and Whyalla, and also had a brief stint in Victoria.

Judge Telfer found that the girl was abused over five years, when she was between the ages of 11 and 16, by her mother and her partner.

The victim told the court that the abuse had become normalised after many years.

“I did not feel anything other than hurt and pain,” she said.

A mother has been found guilty of helping her partner sexually abuse her daughter for a period of five years. Picture: Facebook.

A mother and her partner have been found guilty of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl for several years. Picture: Facebook.

“There were some nights that I would cry myself to sleep.

“I wanted to be treated like a daughter … and I remember staring out the window having tears roll down my face just wanting it to be over and done with, but there was no use fighting it because then I would get treated like crap again.”

If the victim resisted the abuse she was accused of “killing the mood”.

The abuse came to an end when in April 2021 when the victim called her aunt to come and pick her up. She later told the aunt about the abuse and was taken to police to report the crimes.

A key part of the prosecution case against the pair was the statement of a doctor in Kadina who said she saw the victim who was then aged 12 years old.

“One of the issues raised during the consultation by (the mother) was that (her daughter) was sexually active,” Judge Telfer wrote.

“(The mother) requested that (the daughter) be prescribed the contraceptive pill.

“No further detail was recorded about the nature of the sexual activity and (the victim) was provided with a prescription for the contraceptive pill.”

Judge Telfer said the prescription of contraceptive pill to the then 12-year-old victim was “an important and persuasive piece of circumstantial evidence” of the mother’s knowledge that her daughter was being abused.

Judge Telfer revoked bail for the stepfather and remanded him in custody.

The mother was already in custody after her bail was revoked last week when she was no longer able to live in her home detention address.