‘Nightmares’: Nine years jail for child rape

A man who raped his 10-year-old daughter has been sentenced to nine years imprisonment and given a parole date of 2029. Read why his lawyer fears he’ll be a “target” in prison.

The man, aged in his 40s, was found guilty of rape and ‘indecent treatment of a child under 12 of lineal descent’ by a Townsville jury in May, after a four-day trial.

A man who raped his 10-year-old daughter has been sentenced to nine years imprisonment and given a parole date of 2029.

Sentenced in Townsville District Court on Monday, November 4, the man cannot be named to avoid identifying the child victim.

He was found guilty of rape and ‘indecent treatment of a child under 12 of lineal descent’ by a Townsville jury in May, after a four-day trial.

Since then he’s spent 152 days in pre-sentence custody.

The court heard after being anally raped by her own father, the 10-year-old girl had nightmares, was missing school, and was scared to shower with the door shut.

Crown prosecutor Shannon Sutherland also revealed this was not the man’s first time sexually assaulting children - he’d previously spent time in prison for child sex offending against a 14-year-old girl when he was 21.

Defence lawyer Kelly Mythen said her client was “significantly below the average intellect” and was measured to be in the bottom 10 per cent of the population.

The court heard the man “struggles to read and write still”, and worked only briefly before he went onto the disability pension at the age of 18 for ADHD and a lower back injury.

She also told the court her client was struggling in prison because he requires routine medical treatment.

“The machine beeps, this agitates the other prisoners, and this makes him a target for abuse,” she said.

The Crown urged for ten years imprisonment, while Ms Mythen advocated for a reduction to nine years.

Judge Lynham ultimately sentenced the man to nine years imprisonment, and set the parole date at the five year mark in 2029.

Originally published as ‘Nightmares’: Nine years jail for child rape