Wagga District Court: man sentenced to jail for sex acts against child spanning nearly 10 years
A man has been put behind bars for using a child as his “plaything” committing multiple sexual offences during an “utterly inappropriate relationship” for almost a decade.
The Wagga News
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A man in his 40s has been sentenced to a maximum of 16 years in jail for committing numerous sexual offences against a child during an “utterly inappropriate relationship” for nearly 10 years.
The man appeared in Wagga District Court last week after pleading guilty to adult maintain unlawful relationship with a child, containing 14 unlawful sexual acts.
Court documents state the offending spanned between January 2010 to December 2018 in the South West Slopes, South Coast and Illawarra regions.
On a number of occasions, the victim was told not to tell anyone what was happening.
Criminal proceedings began in 2019 after the victim’s mother was notified of the offences.
During a police interview, the man made extensive admissions to having an ongoing relationship with the victim.
The offender also told police he understood that his actions were legally and morally wrong.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Gordon Lerve said the offender used the victim as a “plaything” and that he was indifferent and uncaring about his position of trust.
Judge Lerve also said the man disregarded the effects of his “consistent offending on the victim and the utterly inappropriate relationship”.
“It is undoubted that there is a strong need for general deterrence when dealing with offences of child sexual assault,” he said.
“The effect on the victim is precisely as one would expect it to be.”
Crown Prosecutor Paul Kerr had argued the offending was above mid-range on the objective seriousness for this type of offending, saying it was a very serious example, which Public Defender Michael King conceded.
Mr Kerr also said the offender was not entitled to any additional reduction in his sentence other than for his guilty plea.
He said if there were to be any, it would be minimal because it was inevitable police would have been informed.
Mr King had argued the offender was entitled to additional reduction on top of what was given for his plea because he went to the police before they were notified, which Mr King said also showed his client’s remorse.
Mr King said the court would find on balance that the offender had good prospects of rehabilitation.
Judge Lerve reduced the sentence further to between what the prosecution and defence deemed appropriate because “the offender has made very comprehensive admissions to a significant ongoing course of sexual misconduct with his natural daughter”.
However, he said he was not prepared to make the finding that the offender had good prospects of rehabilitation.
“While there are some very positive signs, much will depend on the manner and extent to which the offender engages while in custody with the various courses and the manner and extent to which he engages upon his eventual release,” Judge Lerve said.
He also said he did not see a case for a finding of special circumstances and declined to make one.
The court heard that in a psychiatric report tendered as evidence, the offender told Dr Richard Furst that he was disgusted in himself.
“It cost me everything … what I’ve done has hurt my people, my family,” the offender said.
“I can’t take away what I’ve done. Lost my kids, lost my dad … I have to live with it, they have to live with it.”
The court also heard there was no causal connection between the offender’s mental conditions set out in a psychiatric report and the offending, with Judge Lerve saying: “There are no indications of a major mental illness”.
He also said that the offender was entitled to some degree of leniency because of his lack of record.
“However that leniency is not as considerable as it might otherwise be because of the nature of the offending,” Judge Lerve said.
The maximum penalty for the charge of adult maintain unlawful relationship with a child is life imprisonment.
With a non-parole period of 12 years and two months and being in custody since April 2019, the man is eligible for early release in June 2031.