Man who raped daughter over 1,000 times sentenced 12 years in Toowoomba court

A courageous young woman has confronted the man who subjected her to more than 1000 acts of depraved sexual abuse in court, saying she had ‘transformed the greatest evil into something glorious’.

Toowoomba District Court was told sickening details of a man’s sexual abuse of his daughter. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

A young woman stood tall as she confronted the man who subjected her to more than 1000 acts of depraved sexual abuse, telling him that he no longer had any power over her.

“As an outcome of what you carried out I have become stronger, transformed the greatest evil into something glorious,” she said.

“I am not the person I am today because of you. Every achievement I have made, every milestone I have crushed and every bit of happiness is not because of you, even if it stems from this pain, it is because I have worked my butt off.

“You shattered me from the inside out, but I have rebuilt myself into someone you can’t recognise.

“The cycle ends with me. The people I call family are people who have chosen me.

“Unlike you I am at the beginning of my story, not the climax, thus while you sit in prison, keep in mind all that you have lost and will never get back.”

The man sat slumped and motionless in the dock of the Toowoomba District Court, knowing that he was about to be sentenced to more than a decade in jail.

On Thursday, the court was told the man, who cannot be named in order to protect his victim’s privacy, started abusing his daughter when she was four years old, by forcing her to urinate into a cup, which he would then drink.

The court was told this act was done to silence the voices in his head.

Crown prosecutor Nicole Freidewald said the offending escalated, from sexual touching to rape and at it height, acts of abuse were committed every second day.

‘PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME SOUND LIKE A MONSTER’

“When (the victim) complained about the pain he told her it would be OK and that she would get through it,” she said.

“When she threatened to tell someone about it, he said: please don’t make me sound like a monster.”

The court was told that after seven years of abuse, the man ‘found God’ and confessed to his church and wife – neither of whom did anything about the offending.

“The mother did nothing, despite learning about the offending which is indicative of how isolated (the victim) was,” Ms Freidewald said.

The last act of abuse was said to have occurred in June, 2021 and two weeks later the man walked into the police station in Roma and confessed.

“He told police that he was a pedophile and admitted to abusing his two daughters,” Ms Freidewald said.

“This happened at home, where she was entitled to feel safe.

“The community rightly finds this offending abhorrent.”

‘SUFFERED FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA’

Acting for the defence, barrister Jens Streit told the court his client suffered from schizophrenia which went undiagnosed until he started seeing a psychiatrist while in pre-sentence custody.

However, Mr Streit could not point to a firm treatment plan or any past history of mental illness.

The court was told a report prepared by the prison doctor said the man was at a moderate to high risk of reoffending.

“The door has been opened to explore this and it provides an explanation as to why he goes into the police and makes admission after such a long period of offending,” he said.

Mr Streit added that while the offending was serious, the man’s case warranted leniency because he handed himself into police, and until that point the police were unaware of the man’s offending.

“My client said, ‘garbage like me should not be on the street’,” he said.

“There has been a trigger that has caused him to move away, to go to the police, and stop the offending.”

After pleading guilty to nine serious child sex offences, including one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, the man was sentenced to 12 years in jail.

He was marked as a serious violent offender and will be eligible for parole after serving nine and a half years.

He has served 971 days in pre-sentence custody.

Originally published as Man who raped daughter over 1,000 times sentenced 12 years in Toowoomba court