‘Appalling’ rapist dad to die in jail

A woman who was sexually assaulted by her sadistic dad for seven years has stared him down as his horror crimes were laid bare. Warning: confronting

GRAPHIC WARNING: This article discusses sexual assault and rape

A man who raped his daughter so sadistically that she developed 2500 personalities as a coping mechanism has been told he will die in prison.

Jeni Haynes put her hand over her mouth and let out a small cry inside the District Court in Sydney today as Judge Sarah Huggett sentenced her father Richard Haynes to 45 years in prison. He will not be eligible for parole until January 2050.

Haynes, 74, put his daughter Jeni through seven years of horrific abuse between the ages of four and 11, which left her body so badly damaged she lives with a colostomy bag, calcified ligaments in her jaw and will never be able to have children.

The now 49-year-old credits her multiple personalities with keeping her alive.

It took Judge Huggett more than an hour to run through the years of abuse Ms Haynes survived, the details of which were so horrific people in court were seen shaking their heads and dropping their face into their hands.

Judge Huggett described the abuse as “completely abhorrent and appalling”, “demeaning and cruel” and said all 25 offences to which Haynes pleaded guilty were “extremely grave”.

Richard Haynes, 74, raped and sexually abused his daughter, Jennifer (bottom right), in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s when she was aged between four and 11.

She told the court “no sentence can completely reflect the far-reaching impacts” of Haynes’ offending, admitting she was forced to put aside how she felt about the abuse as a “human being” to remain impartial as a judge.

Despite the “sad frequency” of rape cases seen by the courts, Judge Huggett said the level of Haynes’ abuse was “rare” and “horrendous”.

Referring to his age, Judge Huggett said it was likely Haynes “is not released from custody before he passes away”.

Speaking to news.com.au after the sentencing, Ms Haynes said the 45-year jail term was significant.

“It’s one year in jail for him for every year of my life he’s ruined,” she said.

“(Judge Huggett) could’ve sentenced him to life, which could be over in 15 years for him, but she deliberately said 45. I was expecting 25 so I got a bonus 20,” Ms Haynes added with a laugh.

“I hope he goes back to his cell and cries his eyes out.

“My life begins today. She (the judge) has released me. I feel so relieved and a sense of freedom.”

Ms Haynes deliberately sat in the front row at court today.

“I wanted him to understand that I’m not going away until I get justice,” she told news.com.au.

“But of course he didn’t look at me because he’s a coward. I wanted to go up there and grab his face and say, ‘Look at me you prick.’”

The court heard Haynes had been threatened “multiple times” in prison and spent significant time in his cell by himself, monitored by CCTV after he tried to take his life in 2017.

Earlier in court, the Crown said that should not affect his sentence.

“It’s unsurprising given the offences he’s been convicted of that he has not found fame with fellow inmates,” the Crown said.

Judge Huggett told the court, after reading Haynes’ psychological report, there was “nothing” in his personal history that “explained or mitigated” the seven years of abuse.

“The only available conclusion is he was sexually attracted to his young daughter and that he derived a perverted gratification from exerting complete power over his vulnerable daughter,” she said.

Haynes wore a prison-green jumper today, leaning back in the dock, closing his eyes and staring at his hands while Judge Huggett ran through the damning evidence against him.

Ms Haynes sat in the front row of the court, surrounded by supporters and staring fiercely ahead.

The 49-year-old broke down a handful of times as Judge Huggett ran through the 25 charges in detail.

Jeni Haynes arrives at Downing Centre District Court in May to deliver her victim impact statement. Picture: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

The court heard Ms Haynes would often pass out due to the violent nature of the sexual abuse, which started in 1974 when her father used the then four-year-old’s hand puppet Sweep to muffle his daughter’s screams and cries while raping her.

“You’re a waste, a truly horrible creature, you should be glad I want to play with you. No one else does, get those pants off now,” Haynes told her during one of her abuse ordeals.

Another time, when Ms Haynes was barely four years old and was forced to touch her father’s penis, Haynes told her, “Only you can help me like this. You have a great touch, You don’t want to hurt your mum or sister.” The abuse continued until 1981, when Ms Haynes was 11, after which the family moved back to England.

From the time she was five years old, Haynes marked each of his daughter’s birthdays with a sadistic “birthday ritual”, where he forced her to “give birth” to a small, plastic Cupie doll.

In sentencing Haynes in Sydney’s Downing Centre today, Judge Huggett lashed the 74-year-old for not immediately pleading guilty, forcing his daughter to take the stand.

Judge Huggett described it as a “distressing experience” and an “exacting process” for Ms Haynes.

The judge described Richard Haynes’ abuse as ‘completely abhorrent and appalling’.

Haynes crumbled early in his trial, pleading guilty in March hours after he was faced with his daughter taking the stand and delivering her testimony in her many different personalities.

Haynes was extradited from the UK in February 2017 to face dozens of charges of rape, buggery and indecent assault against Ms Haynes in the 1970s and 1980s.

Ms Haynes developed more than 2500 personalities as a result of the trauma, using more than 30 of them in May to deliver her 17-page victim impact statement, which touched on the seven years of terror and horrific injuries she is forced to live with today.

Ms Haynes told reporters back in May that she had to do everything “not to slap the smirk off his face” after her 74-year-old father sat listening to her detail the damaging abuse with a slight smile on his face.

RELATED: Survivor Jeni Haynes delivers defiant evidence against rapist father

Jeni Haynes says her multiple personalities helped keep her alive after suffering years of abuse at the hands of her father. Picture: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

To survive and “keep Jeni alive”, Ms Haynes developed multiple personality disorder, also known as dissociative identity disorder. She has more than 2500 personalities, referred to as “alters”.

Judge Huggett described Ms Haynes’ disorder as a “sophisticated coping mechanism”.

Ms Haynes referenced her father’s late guilty plea in her victim impact statement earlier this year.

“ A remorseful man would’ve pleaded guilty earlier — not maximise trauma by forcing me to testify,” she said.

In May, Ms Haynes implored Judge Huggett to send her father to prison for a “very long time” as the 74-year-old smiled at his daughter.

“No part of my world has been left untouched,” she said.

‘JENI IS AN INSPIRATION’

The Blue Knot Foundation, an advocacy group for victims of childhood trauma, has praised Ms Haynes for her bravery in facing her father in court.

The foundation’s president, Cathy Kezelman, said the “landmark case” had demolished myths about dissociative identity disorder (DID).

“What is unique is that Jeni and her ‘parts’ extremely courageously faced her father in court and their testimony was not only believed but elicited a guilty plea from her father and subsequently a conviction,” Dr Kezelman said in a statement this afternoon.

“Instead of Jeni’s DID being treated with scepticism and dismissed as fantasy as frequently has happened over the years, it was understood. She was listened to, heard and believed.

“Jeni is an inspiration. She has changed the way our society understands DID and the true horrors it embodies. Our legal system has responded with an informed comprehension of the devastating impacts of child sexual abuse.”