Ballarat man pleads guilty to sexual charges including incest

A now married father’s “brutal” acts of historical sexual offences on his siblings have finally been exposed in a Geelong court.

Ballarat man pleads guilty to historial incest charges.

A now married father-of-two who sexually abused his younger brother and sister when they were just children is facing the brunt of the law for his “brutal” and “endless” offending – 40 years later.

The Ballarat man has been accused of betraying his younger brother by one of the victims.

“He was meant to look out for me like a brother should, but instead he took advantage of my vulnerability in the worst possible way,” the man said in a victim impact statement.

“It has impacted my life to this day.”

The offender, 54, pleaded guilty in Geelong County Court on Tuesday to three charges of indecent assault, two charges of sexual assault of a child under 10, and three charges of incest.

The court heard the man who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victims sexually abused his siblings between 1982 and 1985 when he was aged between 15 and 16 years old, his sister was aged between 9-12 and his brother was only 8-11.

At the time of the offending the siblings lived in a small town near Ballarat.

Crown prosecutor Daryl Brown said the offender’s sister recalled receiving letters from her brother, when she was nine, asking her to meet him in room.

On several occasions, when she was in his bedroom, her brother would insert his fingers into her vagina.

The victim described the offending as “endless”, Mr Brown said.

In the summertime, the victim would play in the dam near the farm with her brother.

The court was told each time the victim and her brother went to the dam, he would put his hand over her bathers and touch her vagina.

Mr Brown said when she was 12, the offender taught the victim how to kiss and at the same time penetrated her vagina with his penis which she described as “painful”.

This also happened on another occasion and the victim described her brother as smelling of car oil.

Mr Brown said the offender’s brother was also the victim of similar offending.

The court heard the offender would often sexually penetrate his younger brother during baths.

The court heard the victim thought the behaviour was normal and that his brother told him it would turn them into big strong men.

“He would often cry because it hurt so much. One time he shoved his head in the water so no one could hear him cry,” Mr Brown said.

Similar offending would also happened when the victim was in his bed.

The abuse stopped when the offender’s sister informed her teacher about the abuse.

The court heard the teacher went to the offender’s workplace and threatened to call the police if he didn’t stop his behaviour.

In 2020, the sister disclosed what had happened to her siblings.

Her brother, who was also a victim, was furious when he found out and the pair decided to go to the police.

The offender denied all allegations when police interviewed him in March 2021.

Judge Michael Bourke who read the sister’s victim impact statement said her words had a major impact on him and that it offered a compelling insight into how the victim had suffered over many years.

He described the offending as “brutal” and said the offender utterly had disregarded the victims’ feelings.

The man will be sentenced in court next Thursday.

Originally published as Ballarat man pleads guilty to sexual charges including incest