Ipswich man jailed for indecent assault against daughter at Redbank Plains

A court heard a young father who admitted sexually assaulting his daughter had previously been convicted of assaulting his brother and half-sister.

A court has heard of a father’s horrific sexual assault against his own daughter.

A MAN who sexually abused his younger brother and raped his half-sister when he was a teenager has now been convicted by a Queensland court for sexually assaulting his own daughter.

The 28-year-old man was sentenced after pleading guilty in Ipswich District Court to indecently assaulting a child aged under 12, lineal descendant, and when under his care between October 31, 2018 and December 1, 2018 at Redbank Plains or elsewhere.

Crown prosecutor Jacqueline Malouf said the man had two previous convictions that were relevant and also had been sentenced before a Gladstone court.

Ms Malouf said the man was aged 26 when his six-year-old daughter stayed over with him.

The court heard the girl was asleep but woke to find her father using a vibrating object that he placed on her vagina beneath her underwear.

Ms Malouf said the father warned her not to tell her mother or anyone else.

Several weeks later the girl told her mother and stepfather about the incident.

It was reported to police for investigation and her father was charged in July last year.

The court heard the man had been held in jail 359 days on the charge.

Ms Malouf said the father’s guilty plea had spared the child the ordeal of having to give evidence at a trial.

Defence barrister Clare Hurley said the man had been held a year in custody and could be released as it was enough time to have served.

The man instructed her that he was aged 14 when he first began using cannabis, followed by speed and ecstasy by 16.

Ms Hurley said he had since been a regular user of ice.

Ms Hurley said he was not in a relationship and his family had cut ties with him.

Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC said the child had been in his care at the time of the assault when he used a vibrating object.

“It is a gross breach of trust. You have highly relevant history with convictions for sexual assaults against your brother and half-sister,” he said.

Judge Horneman-Wren said this included rape and attempted rape, and although he was young at the time of the offences he was dealt with as an adult.

For those crimes he received a jail penalty of 3 ½ years and two years and had been in jail since 2019.

He was remanded in custody on the new charge.

Judge Horneman-Wren said it was not clear whether his drug use was a factor in his offending.

The man was sentenced to 359 days jail, which was equivalent to the time he had already served.

The court heard he still had more than 2 ½ years remaining from his previous sentence, which had been suspended.