‘Depraved and inhumane acts’: Father sentenced for ‘humiliating, sadistic’ abuse of daughter

*WARNING DISTRESSING* The court heard the man ‘told (the victim) how it was normal for a daughter to have a sexual attraction to her father and that it occurs in most families’.

The court heard the man would be ‘considered for an application as a serious sexual offender’ and may never be released. Picture: Jason Walls

A Top End man who repeatedly raped his teenage daughter while controlling every aspect of her life through a “particularly vicious and manipulative form of grooming” will spend at least 18 years behind bars.

The man, aged in his 40s, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to a string of “inhumane and depraved” sexual assaults on the girl “every few days” over several years while she was under his care.

In sentencing the man to 21 years in prison, Justice Jenny Blokland said his actions required “denunciation in the strongest possible terms”.

“The facts point out a serious level of depravity from the outset on the part of (the offender), he told (the victim) how it was normal for a daughter to have a sexual attraction to her father and that it occurs in most families,” she said.

“These are some of the most depraved and inhumane acts committed by one person on another that a court hears.

“The behaviour included acts of rape until the victim was so harmed she no longer resisted him.

“Some of the behaviour involved acts designed to degrade and humiliate, thus incorporating sadistic elements.”

Justice Blokland said it was “a universal value across generations and cultures” that fathers were “entrusted to protect their daughters” and “that trust was destroyed in a most ruthless way”.

“Ordinary people who adhere to widely accepted community values for which there is broad consensus have no ability to understand how any person could have reached this terrible place in their lives that such offences could be committed by them,” she said.

“The fact that he continued and continually did this leads the court to the position that only the highest possible sentence, proportional to the gravity of the offending, could properly serve all sentencing principles required to be applied as a matter of law.”

In setting a non-parole period of 18 years, Justice Blokland praised the young victim for her bravery in coming forward to finally put an end to the horror perpetuated by her father.

“The court must, of course, prioritise punishment and community protection, he still presents a real risk of reoffending,” she said.

“The court cannot positively find he fully understands the gravity of the offending or its severe impacts on the victim.”

With time already served, the man will be eligible for parole in 2039.

‘Hell on Earth’: Father’s ‘relentless regime of deviant sexual violence’ exposed

A Top End father who put his biological teenage daughter through “hell on Earth” via a “relentless regime of deviant sexual violence” may never be released, a court has heard.

The man aged in his 40s, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to multiple counts of “degrading and sadistic” sexual abuse, including “forced bondage” during a period of more than four years.

The court heard the Rural Area man had taken custody of the girl, then aged in her mid-teens, after she began suffering from depression and self-harming while living with her mother interstate.

Crown prosecutor Marty Aust said the man had presented himself as a concerned father, but “what he instead did was isolate her, manipulate her and engage in a deviant and destructive course of conduct purely for his sexual gratification”.

“He held himself out to be a father and protector and encouraged her to return with him and indeed, took her back to a place that, rather than be a safe haven, was a hell on Earth for her,” he said.

“The offending was premeditated, it was controlled and it was grooming from almost the moment, if not the very moment he had her to himself and under his control.”

Mr Aust said the man assaulted the girl “every few days”, plying her with drugs and alcohol and even took the step of putting her on the contraceptive pill to avoid an unwanted pregnancy.

Crown prosecutor Marty Aust said without intervention, the man would ‘remain a severe risk of ongoing violent and sexual offending’. Picture Julianne Osborne

He said the teenager was “forced to perform particularly degrading acts”, including “in public spaces” until “the victim ostensibly had been so mentally and emotionally harmed that she gave up all hope and resistance to him”.

“The victim’s innocence and confidence was stolen and is irreparably damaged,” he said.

Mr Aust said the man was yet to “fully accept responsibility” and “without any intervention, he will remain a severe risk of ongoing violent and sexual offending”.

“He’s clearly a person who will be considered for an application as a serious sexual offender, so the Crown does acknowledge that irrespective of what your honour imposes, he may never be released,” he said.

Defence barrister Peter Maley said his client had been beaten and sexually abused by his own parents as a child and had multiple psychiatric diagnoses, including PTSD and anti-social personality disorder.

“Effectively he is a damaged human being and there is no real effective treatment in jail,” he said.

“As a human being, you can’t help but apply your own moral yardstick and of course, anyone reading the facts would be shocked, but he is not a normal person in terms of the underlying mental health issues and what’s happened in his life.”

The man will return to court for sentencing on Wednesday.