Gympie father gets suspended sentence for molesting second child
‘You broke every single thing we had as a family’: Court hears devastating impact as father avoids jail for molesting second daughter.
A Gympie father jailed for sexually abusing one of his daughters has escaped being thrown back behind bars for molesting her sister.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, assaulted the sister on an unknown date between late 2019 and early 2020, Gympie District Court heard on Monday.
He had been masturbating in the early hours of the morning while lying on his bed next to the girl, who was under 10 years of age.
The court heard he then reached across, took her hands, put them on him, made her engage in the act as well before then continuing himself.
She did not reveal what happened to an adult until 2024.
The man initially denied the allegations, before pleading guilty to one count of indecent treatment of a child under 12.
The court heard his abuse happened at the same time he was molesting the girl’s sister, an offence he pleaded guilty to maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with the girl in 2021 and was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
It was suspended after five years, after he had served one year behind bars.
His defence barrister told the court the man had grown up with parents who abused alcohol, and exposed him to domestic and sexual violence.
He finished school at Year 9 and in recent years had been unemployed and homeless at times.
Judge Glen Cash said the man was “right” to hang is head “in shame” when the victim’s mother, fighting back tears, read her and her daughter’s victim impact statements to the court.
She said being back in court “was a recurring nightmare” and her daughters “continue to struggle with fear and nightmares”.
“Your actions impact your life for a few short years but the punishment does not fit the crime because these kids now have a lifetime of struggles to face,” she told the court.
Her daughter had said “you were my dad, my safe place, the person I could talk to, the person I knew if anything happened you would protect me”.
“You broke that trust.
“You broke every single thing we had as a family.”
She said he was a “no good rotten person who doesn’t deserve to be living a free life” and “rather be dead than be in the same room as you again”.
“I hate you.”
However he said the man would likely have not been punished any harsher had this offending been dealt with when his abuse against his other daughter was discovered, and there were “exceptional” circumstances which meant he was not going to jail this time.
Judge Cash warned there would be “no more chances” should the man offend again.
He sentenced the man to one year’s jail jail but ordered it be immediately suspended for 18 months, and extended the suspended sentence on his earlier jail term by four months.
