Plea hearing for Geelong father guilty of raping, sexually assaulting daughter

A woman who was repeatedly raped by her father for two years has told a Geelong court of his “cold, empty, eyes” and the impact his crimes have had.

A Geelong woman was raped as by her father for around two years in her late-teens. Picture: File image

A woman who was repeatedly raped by her father has told a Geelong court of his “cold, empty, eyes” and the impact his crimes have had.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim, appeared in the County Court at Geelong via prison link on Monday, having earlier pleaded guilty to 17 charges including numerous counts of the sexual assault and rape of his daughter, as well as two charges related to child abuse material.

Crown prosecutor Raphael de Vietri set out six incidents of abuse upon which the charges were based, but told the court that for almost two years, the man raped and abused his daughter two to three times a week when she was aged 16-18.

Much of that ongoing conduct was uncharged, but Mr de Vietri said it was relied upon as “tendency evidence”.

Details of the man’s offending are too graphic to publish, but the abuse largely involved penile rape, instances of digital and oral rape, and the use of sex toys.

During one incident, the man told his daughter: “you don’t take it, you’ll get punished”.

The victim kept quiet about the abuse because she feared her father would hurt her.

She consistently told her father to stop – and even to “f--k off” at points – but the abuse continued.

The abuse also took place at locations outside the house and the man also filmed abuse on his phone and demanded the victim send him sexually explicit pictures and videos of herself.

Police found 282 pictures and 12 videos containing child abuse material of the victim in a passcode-protected folder on the man’s mobile phone.

The court heard the offending was discovered only after the victim told friends of the abuse, who raised the alarm.

Following an outline of her father’s offending being read, the victim took to the stand.

She began with a poem, in which she described feeling used, unable to move, speak or scream, the smell of the man’s cologne, his “dry lips”, and feelings of guilt, shame and uselessness.

“It hurts me so much you could do this to me and my family,” the woman said.

She continues to have panic attacks and “severe night terrors” and is currently in therapy. She told her father he would never again be a part of her life or the lives of her future children.

His abuse had warped her sense of what a normal relationship was, and “broken” her relationship with her siblings.

“Dad, you’re meant to protect me from harm … instead of someone outside of the family, it was you,” she said.

She struggled with conflicted feelings between wanting to hate her father and wanting to know how he was, guilt about having to lie to her siblings for him, while the physical impact will “last a lifetime”.

“All the things you did to me cannot be fixed with a sorry,” she said.

In a defiant finish, the woman said she would be walking out of the courtroom, while the man sat behind bars, alone, where he deserved.

Following the woman’s statement, her younger sister – who witnessed one of the rapes – also read a victim impact statement.

She described feeling scared and mistreated by their father, neglected and discarded because she wasn’t “worthy”, and manipulated about what she saw.

“You, dad, have distorted every piece of innocence I had left; you covered me with your illness,” she said.

Following the impact statements, counsel for the defence and prosecution made sentencing submissions.

The man will be sentenced at a later date.

Originally published as Plea hearing for Geelong father guilty of raping, sexually assaulting daughter