Geelong dad pleads guilty to sexually assaulting daughter, 9, ahead of trial

The mother whose ex has pleaded guilty to abusing their daughter told a court the “damage is done”.

A Geelong man will spend …

A Geelong father serving a 13-year jail sentence for abusing one of his daughters has pleaded guilty to abusing his other daughter.

The man, who is aged in his late-30s and can’t be named to protect the identities of his victims, fronted the County Court at Geelong this week, expecting to fight two charges of sexual assault of a child under 16.

The man had been found guilty by a jury following a 2022 trial of abusing both his daughters and jailed for over a decade, however he appealed and was partially successful.

The Court of Appeal ordered a retrial in regards to his abuse of his youngest daughter, while the convictions he received for abusing his other daughter were upheld.

As a jury was convening for his retrial, the man pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexually assault – the first time he had accepted responsibility for any of the abuse.

On Friday, he was jailed for two and a half years, with eight months to be served on top of his existing sentence – extending his maximum stay in jail to over 14 years.

He will be eligible for parole after eight years and nine months, backdated to the date of his original sentence in 2022.

The man’s daughter was nine when he sexually touched her over her clothes and swiftly reported her father’s actions, the court heard, as did her older sister.

The man’s abuse of his older daughter happened over a longer period and involved “more serious” charges, the court heard.

Before he was jailed, the man’s ex-partner, and mother of his two victims, read aloud a “sobering” victim impact statement, describing how her youngest daughter now, among other difficulties, struggled to connect with male authority figures.

Songs and words had become triggers, including the word “dad” and the phrase “our little secret”.

The woman said her former partner’s plea brought the family little comfort, after he spent years fighting the allegations.

“The trials are over, the damage is done. There’s no relief, no happiness, no positive emotion at all, just a heavy weight,” she said.

In sentencing, Judge Michael Tinney denounced the man’s actions as a substantial breach of trust against the victim that “speaks of some strange or warped mindset”.

“You are a father, your duty was to protect her,” he told the man.

“You told her to keep the matter a secret, and thank heavens she didn’t.”

The man was interviewed within a month of the incident, the court heard, and denied any misconduct, instead blaming his ex-partner for “grooming” his daughters to lie.

The man maintained what Judge Tinney described as a “pack of lies” and “nonsense about being falsely accused and then falsely convicted”.

“(The victims) did not lie, the only liar was you,” Judge Tinney said.

Judge Tinney said the man’s guilty plea did not warrant as much of a discount in sentence as other pleas, as he had spared none of the witnesses, saved little court time and showed “not a shred” of remorse.

“You really should be ashamed of yourself, but I see no signs of that at all,” Judge Tinney said.

The plea was significant, Judge Tinney said, insofar as it was a public acceptance of responsibility for his actions.

Originally published as Geelong dad pleads guilty to sexually assaulting daughter, 9, ahead of trial