Truong Pham, 47, sentenced in Bendigo County Court for sexual penetration of 13-year-old girl

A Bendigo grub plied a vulnerable 13-year-old girl with alcohol and drugs before sexually assaulting her multiple times during a disgusting period of abuse.

Truong Pham exploited a 13-year-old for sexual intercourse in the Bendigo area.

A Bendigo man who plied a vulnerable 13-year-old girl with alcohol before sexually assaulting her has been jailed.

Truong Pham, 47, was convicted and sentenced at Bendigo County Court on Thursday to four years’ jail after pleading guilty to the sexual penetration of a child under 16.

Judge George Georgiou told the court the 13-year-old was a ward of the state and was vulnerable whom Pham took advantage of.

Pham met the teen in central Victoria in 2022 and spent time with her in the Bendigo area.

Truong Pham plied a teenager with alcohol before sexually assaulting her.

The incident occurred over one weekend in February after Pham invited the girl around to drink alcohol with him.

He texted her on a school day asking if she was “getting dressed” and asked her to “wag” school, the court heard.

The teenager went to a Bendigo address and spent the weekend drinking and doing drugs with Pham.

Over the weekend Pham had penetrative sexual intercourse with the school student three times.

Truong Pham was jailed. Picture: D-Keine.

During the course of the weekend, the teen reached out to her case worker asking to get in contact with a female police officer with the Bendigo Sexual Offences and Child-abuse Investigation Team because “another incident had happened”.

Concerned, the teen’s case worker tried to organise transport to get the victim out of the situation.

Her carer tried to convince the teenager to come home, but the teen said she was staying with “mates”.

The carer asked if these “mates” were safe, to which the teen replied that she had already been sexually assaulted, providing the exact times the incidents occurred.

“I’ll just let them use me for the next couple of days,” the victim said.

The teen was “frightened” during the assault.

When she was back in the custody of her carer on the Monday, she attended Bendigo police station to report the sexual assaults.

In a victim impact statement, the teen said that she “felt frightened” and that she had trouble sleeping.

The court heard it was unclear how the sexual assault had affected the teen. The court heard she had been sexually assaulted before and she was “ambivalent”, repressing the memories of the traumatic events.

While the teen was being interviewed, the Bendigo man sent her texts saying:

“I’m sleepy on a bed by myself sweetheart,” Pham said.

The victim was vulnerable and Pham exploited her, the court heard.

When Pham began to suspect police had become aware of the sexual assaults, he texted her saying:

“Are you in trouble … if you’re in trouble, I’m in trouble.

“In the end the law or the cops will get me.”

Police raided the Bendigo address he was staying at and arrested him a few days later.

During police interviews, Pham said “no comment” to the allegations, the court heard.

Judge Georgiou found Pham to be remorseless, initially pleading not guilty and forcing the teen to testify in court before eventually pleading guilty.

Judge Georgiou ordered a non-parole period of two years and eight months, taking into account 505 days Pham had already spent remanded in custody for the sexual assault.

He will remain on the sex offender registry for 15 years.