"I ask my wife to forgive me": Ipswich man convicted for inappropriately touching his adopted daughters over 14 month period

An Ipswich court has heard how the grandmother of two girls being sexually abused by their adopted father outed the man in front of their family.

An Ipswich man has been convicted in Ipswich court today for inappropriately touching two of his adopted daughters.

The 62-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of his victims, pleaded guilty to eight offences in total: two counts of indecent treatment of children under 12 that were in his care, and six counts of indecent treatment of children under 16 that were in his care, all of which were domestic violence offences.

The court heard that seven of those offences were committed against one of his adopted daughters, aged 11 to 12, on unknown dates between April 25 2019 and February 20 2020.

The offences involved the man using his hands and penis to touch the girls inappropriately.

On one occasion in the same period of time, the man also assaulted his younger adopted daughter, aged 9 to 10.

His older daughter told her cousin about what was happening, and the cousin informed their grandmother.

The grandmother brought the issue to the whole family in a family meeting, and the man apologised and said he was ashamed of himself.

On June 16 2022, the man addressed the judge, thanking her for the opportunity to speak and apologising again.

His words were translated from Samoan by the translator present throughout the proceedings.

“I’m truly honoured to stand before all of you today … I ask my wife to forgive me, and also my children,” he said.

“I make a promise to court, and to my family, and to all of you, this will never happen again.”

Judge Vicki Loury considered that because the man is was New Zealand citizen, he would risk deportation if given parole.

“There’s two complainants; that means that the protection of the community looms large and the protection of the children in the community looms large. That’s why I would lean towards parole,” she said.

However, the man’s lawyer Scott Neaves argued that a suspended sentence would be appropriate.

“He is ashamed, he is apologetic. It does not help the victims, but it might suggest he won’t do it again,” said Mr Neaves.

The court heard the man still had the support of his wife, brother and other family – although he had separated from his wife due to the charges.

Judge Loury said the man’s brother submitted a written statement saying the offending is not consistent with his upbringing and “not consistent with the man that he has known”.

The court heard that the man has no criminal history, a good work history and that he pleaded guilty at an early stage.

“I accept that that is demonstrative of your remorse, and it saved your daughters from having to give evidence in the court,” said Judge Loury.

“The genuine remorse that you have displayed this morning here in court, and the shame that you have also demonstrated, makes it unlikely that you will reoffend in a similar way.

“It is that feature which warrants my suspending the sentence rather than imposing a parole eligibility date,” she said.

Judge Loury sentenced the man to four fears imprisonment for the two most serious offences and two years imprisonment for the remaining offences

The charges are to be served concurrently – and suspended after the man has served 16 months in prison.