Pedophile father jailed for abuse of three-year-old daughter placed in his care by Child Protection

A pedophile father whose three-year-old daughter was placed in his care by Child Protection, only for her to suffer hideous abuse for almost two years, had been sentenced.

A pedophile father’s apology to the daughter he abused for more than 17 months “pales into insignificance” when compared to the abhorrent offending he committed against her, a judge has said.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim, pleaded guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with the child starting when the victim was only three years and four months old.

He also pleaded guilty to almost a dozen offences of producing, disseminating and possessing child exploitation material.

A southern suburbs father has admitted the abhorrent abuse of his biological daughter. Picture: Facebook

The offending only stopped when specialist police attached to the Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team raided his house in November 2021.

On Monday, District Court Judge Anthony Allen said he would limit the details of the abuse the man perpetrated against the child during sentencing because of its “gross depravity”.

The offending came to light when police in Queensland identified a man posting child exploitation material in a file entitled “my daughter”.

Officers communicated with the man online and identified him as living in South Australia.

The tip was passed onto local police who raided the man’s home. The child was removed from his care and placed with a foster family.

During sentencing submissions last month, the court heard that the child had been removed from the care of her mother by the Department of Child Protection who found she was “unstable”.

Instead she was placed in the care of her father – who had severe, but at that time undiagnosed, autism spectrum disorder.

Across multiple electronic devices police found images of the child being abused as well as videos and pictures of other children.

“This is one of the most serious examples of offending against a single victim,” Judge Allen said.

“She was only three years old, you were her dad, you were supposed to care and nurture her.”

The father wrote an apology letter to his daughter acknowledging the harm he had caused her.

“There are instances where the seriousness of the offending means an apology pales into insignificance,” Judge Allen said.

The man disseminated the abuse of the child online.

Judge Allen said that every time that material was viewed the child was re-victimised again.

The man’s time in prison has been marked with violence, with another sexually and physically assaulting him on at least one occasion.

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