Central Coast father sentenced over sexual abuse of children aged 2 and 5

A Killarney Vale father and former volunteer firefighter has been jailed for sexual abuse against three victims, one as young as two.

A Central Coast father has been jailed over sexual abuse to two children, one aged just two years old.

A father of four will remain in jail until at least 2025 after being convicted for sexually abusing two young children.

The man, from Killarney Vale, appeared via audio visual link before Gosford District Court on Wednesday where he was sentenced after pleading guilty to six domestic violence related offences committed between February 2019 and June 2020.

In March 2022, the man pleaded guilty at Wyong Local Court to two counts of intentionally sexually touch a child under the age of 10 years, two counts of use a child under 14 years to make child abuse material, intentionally carry out a sexual act with a child under the age of 10 and sexual intercourse without consent.

The offences occurred against the man’s former partner, daughter aged two at the time and a five year old boy.

The agreed set of facts were read out during the sentence, stating that in February 2019 the offender was babysitting his daughter when he pulled her nappy to one side and took a photo of her vagina.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was sentenced at Gosford District Court. Picture: David Swift

In April 2019 both the children were home when the offender again took two photos of the girl’s vagina, one photo with her hand place on it. He also “played with her vagina”, according to the facts.

In June 2020 the offender was in jail on separate offences when he spoke to his partner and gave her the password to his Google account.

This was when she discovered the photos of the young girl and when she asked him about it, he said he knew it was wrong, but in a later call denied his actions.

Later that month when he was released, the man took video footage of sexual intercourse he had with his partner twice while she was asleep.

Images of the 2-year-old were found on the man’s Google account, however he said he had deleted them shortly after they were taken. Picture: Kirill Kudryavtsev

“The footage taken at the time showed that (the victim) was not making any noise and was asleep,” the facts stated.

In August 2020, the man’s former partner took the 5-year-old boy to a counsellor where he revealed that the man had behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner towards him.

“The offender later made admissions that he masturbated in the presence of (the victim),” the facts read.

The court heard the man had an extensive criminal history dating back to the age of 18 with convictions and at least 12 jail terms for various offences including destroy or damage property, offences against police, domestic violence offences, child sexual offences and driving offences.

The offences occurred in a home where the children “were entitled to feel safe”, the court heard.

The former volunteer firefighter also has a history of substance abuse starting when he was a teenager and suffers PTSD, anxiety and depression.

Judge David Wilson said the man wrote a letter to the court saying he had been clean and sober for two years and “looks back on his life with deep regret and remorse”.

“In relation to the subject offending he expressed sorrow and acknowledged the harm caused to the victims,” Judge Wilson said.

He said he was keen to seek treatment on his release to be a better father.

During sentence submissions the Crown Prosecutor said the only form of punishment was full time imprisonment due to the recognition of the harm caused, need to protect the community and the fact the man abused a position of trust.

The man has been in and out of jail since the age of 18.

The man’s defence conceded that full time imprisonment was the only option however said he was unlikely to reoffend, had good prospects of rehabilitation and had a supportive family to help him on release.

Judge Wilson said the man’s prospects of rehabilitation were “guarded” and the offending was aggravated by the fact that it took place in the home where the victims were entitled to feel safe.

“There is no doubt whatsoever that sexual offending against children is serious and requires condign punishment,” he said.

The man was convicted and sentenced to a term of eight years imprisonment with a non parole period of four years. With time already spent in custody, he will be eligible for parole in January 2025. He also made an apprehensive violence order (AVO) against the victims for five years, starting from the man’s date of release.