Geelong man jailed over historical sexual abuse of step-granddaughter

A “remorseless” pedophile who sexually abused his step-granddaughter has been jailed for almost a decade, as a judge told him he should be disgusted in himself.

The man has been found guilty of abusing his step-granddaughter for a second time, following a trial in 2023 and a retrial in 2025.

A Geelong man who sexually abused his step-granddaughter has been jailed for a second time.

The man, who is aged in his 70s and cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim, was this week jailed in the County Court for a maximum of nine years and eight months, after he was earlier found guilty by a jury of three counts of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16, and two counts of committing an indecent act with a child under the age of 16.

The jury found the man raped his step-granddaughter on three occasions across a period spanning 2001 to 2005, when she was aged between eight and 11 years old.

Judge Geoff Chettle set a non-parole period of six years, and reckoned 487 days as time already served.

The man had previously been found guilty of abusing his step-granddaughter following a trial in 2023, but after spending 16 months behind bars his appeal was successful and he was granted a retrial.

For the second trial, three counts of incest were substituted for the charges of sexual penetration of a child.

In sentencing the man, Judge Chettle denounced his conduct, describing it as “serious sexual offending against a totally innocent child by someone trusted”.

“You should be disgusted in yourself, instead you’re actually remorseless,” Judge Chettle told the man.

The man had previously been jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2011, for sexually abusing his stepdaughter, the aunt of his other victim, when she was aged 12 to 13 in the early 1990s.

Judge Chettle said while the two abuses were not connected and took place about a decade apart, it was a relevant in his sentencing consideration.

The court heard a psychologist found that the man “likely suffered from pedophilia” at the time of the abuse against his first victim, and that it likely persisted given he had two victims.

There were few matters in mitigation, Judge Chettle said, except the man’s advanced age and declining health.

The court heard the man suffered from high levels of anxiety and Judge Chettle concluded this would result in a “modest” increase to the burden of prison.

However, Judge Chettle said he was not satisfied imprisonment would be significantly more burdensome.

In assessing the man’s prospects of rehabilitation, Judge Chettle said the man possessed few of the usual barriers, such a drug addiction, however, “problem is understanding the nature of (the man’s) offending against young, family members”, in which court heard the man had only shown “very limited insight”

The man will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

EARLIER: ‘Brazen’ abuser displays no evidence of remorse: prosecutor

A Geelong man found guilty for a second time of abusing his step-granddaughter was jailed more than a decade ago for abusing another family member.

The man, aged in his 70s who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, was last week found guilty by a jury of three counts of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 and two counts of committing an indecent act with a child under the age of 16.

The charges related to his step-granddaughter, who the jury heard the man abused across three incidents between 2001 and 2005, when she was aged between 8 and 11.

The man appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Tuesday for a plea hearing, following the trial before Judge Geoffrey Chettle.

The trial was a retrial ordered by the Court of Appeal after he was jailed for 11 years on three counts of incest and two indecent act offences following an earlier trial in 2023.

The man appealed and successfully argued that he had been disadvantaged by the jury not being given a direction concerning forensic disadvantage.

The man’s lawyer, barrister Cara Foote, submitted prison would be onerous for the man due his depression and anxiety, declining health and the “prospect he may not come out of prison alive”.

Ms Foote clarified that his declining health was not in relation to any specific diagnoses, simply his advancing age, and that these factors were “simply part of the sentencing synthesis” that Judge Chettle must apply.

She told the court the man had also suffered the loss of a family member he was close with.

Ms Foote said it was a “perhaps” unusual case, as it comprised three distinct incidents spread over years, and said there was “no evidence of grooming behaviour”.

The court heard that because several of the charges had changed, the maximum penalties were reduced from 25 to 10 years, even as the man was found guilty of the same conduct.

Crown prosecutor Raphael de Vietri submitted the man was in a position of trust, which was an aggravating factor on the crimes, and that he plied his victim with lollies and money after the offending.

“The particular modus operandi of this offending involved serious emotional manipulation,” Mr de Vietri said.

“It was brazen offending; offending that put this little girl in a terribly confusing position for many, many years of her life.”

Mr de Vietri said while choosing to run a trial was never an aggravating factor, it bore weight in the court’s analysis of the man’s remorse and “obviously there’s none”.

Despite the man being guilty of abusing two female members in separate decades, there’s no admission to date, the court heard.

“Ultimately, a substantial term of imprisonment must be imposed and community protection must be at the forefront,” Mr de Vietri said.

The man had previously been sentenced, by Judge Chettle, to six and a half years prison in 2011 for sexually abusing another female family member in the 1990s.

That woman, his stepdaughter and an aunt of his other victim, was aged between 12 to 13 at the time of the abuse.

The man will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Originally published as Geelong man jailed over historical sexual abuse of step-granddaughter