Mackay father found guilty of raping his own daughter twice and jailed for three years

The seven men and five women deliberated for more than a day before handing down their decision.

A man had been found guilty to digitally raping his own daughter twice as she slept.

LATEST: A Mackay jury found a father guilty of twice raping his own daughter as she slept, after more than a day of deliberation.

He will now spend the next 18 months in jail.

The seven men and five women found the teen girl had been telling the truth when she said the man digitally raped her twice when she was aged nine to 12.

The two incidents occurred years apart between 2014 and 2018 at two separate locations in the Mackay region.

The Mackay District Court heard the first time she had been asleep on a couch in a caravan where they had been living on a property, while the second time happened in her bed at the home where they had been living.

The man, who cannot be named because it would identify the girl, had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On Wednesday afternoon, the jury began deliberations after a two-day trial before Judge Julie Dick.

When they returned on Thursday morning, the jury requested to again listen to the girl’s evidence, which was played in a closed court.

About 4.30pm on Thursday the seven men and five women returned two guilty verdicts.

Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke said it was not isolated offending and while the first incident might have been opportunistic the second was brazen.

The court heard he had been in his 20s the first time and 30s for the second rape.

Ms O’Rourke said three years jail was appropriate and Judge Dick agreed.

Barrister Scott McLennan pushed for 2.5 years, but Judge Dick said three years was in range because there were two rapes.

“I must, as must you, accept the jury verdict. These two incidents, they’ve clearly had a pretty big impact on your daughter, who was obviously living a very nervous life towards the end,” Judge Dick said.

“It was your biological daughter, you were in a position of trust, it is a rape albeit by digital penetration not penile penetration.”

Judge Dick jailed the man for three years. She took into account the circumstances, including that the two incidents happened years apart, his lack of criminal history and that he was found guilty after a trial.

Judge Dick found the man did not need parole and determined the jail term would be suspended after he served 50 per cent.

The remaining 18 months will hang over his head for four years. Convictions were recorded and he will now be a registered child sex abuse offender.

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WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The lawyer for a Mackay father accused of twice raping his daughter has alleged in his closing address to the jury the teen “made up some stories” because she “felt she had a tyrant in her life”.

Barrister Scott McLennan said the teen girl had thought her life “would be much better without him in the household” because he did not approve of her relationship with her boyfriend.

The father, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the girl, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of digital rape that allegedly occurred between 2014 and 2018 in the Mackay region.

Before the jury began deliberations on Wednesday afternoon, Mr McLennan told them to consider the “dramatic” differences between the version the teen told police and the one she told her mum, aunty, friend and boyfriend.

Mackay District Court heard in a text message sent to her aunty – that was displayed in court – she said “it happens all the time”.

Mr McLennan said this was completely different to her version to police where she said it only happened twice.

In the lengthy text she had also written “he would just be sitting at my door telling me to take my clothes off and that I’m sexy or stuff”, which Mr McLennan said she did not tell police.

“That’s something that would be burned in your memory,” Mr McLennan said, adding it was an example of when she had “concocted something” and said it was inexplicable unless she was “making some things up”.

“And if you believe that then you’d have reasonable doubt about the rest of her evidence,” Mr McLennan said.

The man did not give or call evidence during the two-day trial, which is his right under law.

During her closing argument to the jury Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke described the teen as a “compelling witness”.

“She was credible and she was reliable,” Ms O’Rourke said.

“She was a teenage girl doing her very best to tell police about her happened to her.”

Ms O’Rourke said the girl was “clear, confident and concise in her answers” and she never tried to embellish details.

“She gave a detailed account that had an authentic quality to it,” Ms O’Rourke said, adding that the teen was consistent in the details she gave police and her record in court.

“She’s consistent about the substance of the rapes.”

Ms O’Rourke said some of the inconsistencies relied upon by the defence were not important and described then as peripheral facts that were easily mixed up.

Ms O’Rourke said in her submission the man had “hammed” up his interview with police and was not sincere.

“His responses were putting it all back on the (girl) … she’s breaking my heart,” she said, also later noting the man had yawned “when he’s being interviewed about sexual offending”.

She also argued he was deliberately evasive and untruthful about his knowledge of the allegations.

The jury will resume deliberations on Thursday morning.

TUESDAY UPDATE: A father told police “you’re making me feel crook” as he was questioned over whether or not he raped his daughter twice as she slept.

The man, in his 30s, has strenuously denied digitally raping the girl when she was aged nine to 12, claiming to police the first he knew of the allegations was when officers pulled him in for an interview, which was played for a Mackay District Court jury.

He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape over two alleged incidents of child sex abuse between 2014 and 2018 in the Mackay region.

“Mate I’d never do that to her in my life … makes me feel sick,” the man, who cannot be named as it would identify the alleged victim, said.

The trial, under Judge Julie Dick, began on Tuesday when the jury heard the two digital rapes allegedly occurred at two different locations years apart – but both times she had been asleep and alleges she woke up to her father’s fingers in her vagina.

When the claims were put to the man, he repeated it was “breaking me f***ing heart”.

“You’re making me feel crook,” he said.

“I would never lay a hand on (her).

The court heard the now teen also told police she allegedly often woke up and saw her dad standing in her room staring at her.

The man told officers when his daughter had been born, he was “way too young and never home”.

“She just treated me like I’m not … her dad,” he said.

The man told officers he had never touched his daughter.

The court heard police became involved after the child’s aunty made a complaint about the allegations. The matter was referred to Mackay Child Protection Unit officers, who spoke with the teen at her school.

Barrister Scott McLennan, instructed by Fisher Dore Lawyers, said suggested to one of the officers who interviewed his client that the complaint did not come from the child or her mother and he said agreed it had come from a different source.

The trial continues.

INITIAL: A Mackay teen has accused her father of raping her twice as she slept.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the alleged victim, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of digital rape in the Mackay region.

It is alleged the two incidents occurred between 2014 and 2018 when she was aged between nine and 12.

“It’s a trial about a father, who abused that special trust that daughter’s have in their dads,” Crown Prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke told a Mackay District Court jury.

“In this trial she’ll tell you that during her childhood (her father) raped her twice.”

The court heard both times she had fallen asleep and woke up to her father digitally raping her.

Ms O’Rourke said the first alleged rape occurred after she had fallen asleep on a couch inside a caravan where she had been living with her father on a property in the region.

“She woke to her dad coming home that night, she thought he might have been drinking,” Ms O’Rourke said.

“When she woke the leggings that she had been wearing had been pulled down and (her father’s) fingers were inside her vagina.”

The court heard the next alleged rape occurred years later.

“And in those years (she) kept that violation to herself, she kept it a secret,” Ms O’Rourke said in her opening address to the jury.

“But then (he) seized another opportunity to rape her.”

This alleged incident occurred in a different property and the child had been asleep in her room.

“And once again, she woke up to what (her father) was doing,” Ms O’Rourke said.

“This time he moved her underwear to the side.”

The court heard she later told her boyfriend what her father allegedly did.

Ms O’Rourke said she also wrote a letter detailing problems she was having and also what her father allegedly did – a friend and the teen’s mother read the letter, which has since gone missing or was destroyed.

The jury will also watch the police interview with the man, who denied the allegations to officers and “claimed that she was breaking his heart by doing this”.

The teen’s evidence will be heard in a closed court.

The trial, under Judge Julie Dick, continues.