Central Qld stepfather found not guilty of raping stepdaughter in jury trial

The jury has taken just one hour to reach a verdict in the case where a Central Queensland man is accused of raping his stepdaughter when she was a child.

A young girl brought to Australia by her stepfather was allegedly raped by him in Central Queensland.

A jury has found a Central Queensland man on trial for allegedly raping his stepdaughter when she was a child not guilty.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, entered not guilty pleas to two counts of rape in the Rockhampton District Court this week.

The jury returned verdicts of not guilty on both charges by lunchtime Thursday.

Crown prosecutor Ryan Minuti said the child claimed she was raped twice by her stepfather when the girl was aged between ages eight and 11.

“He was the person responsible for bringing her and her mother over to Australia,” he said.

“He maintained a significant amount of control over their life, as many parents do.”

Mr Minuti said the girl claimed she loved the defendant, cared for him and but, she alleged, he abused her trust.

He said it was alleged the first rape took place as she sat on the lounge and her mother was taking a shower.

Mr Minuti said the alleged raped only stopped when her mother got out of the shower.

Mr Minuti said she claims she would sometimes tell him to stop or call out to her mother so she would interrupt them, resulting in her stepfather slapping her and calling her derogatory words and getting her into trouble with her mother.

“Despite hating him for what he did, she still loved him,” Mr Minuti said.

“She still felt grateful to him that he had brought her family over to Australia.”

He said she stayed silent for so long because she didn’t want to lose her family.

Defence barrister Tom Polley asked the jury, repeatedly, to take “a reality check” when considering every part of the girl’s claims.

“Rape of an eight-year-old girl is one of the most heinous acts imaginable,” he said.

“The sort of thing that you expect to occur, if it was going to occur, in a house when there no one was there.”

Mr Polley said the first rape in the lounge room did not, according to the girl’s evidence, come with any warning, lead up sexual abuse, grooming and “secret keeping”.

He raised questions about how an eight-year-old would be expected to “just comply” and “suffer in pain in silence” when being raped for the first time while their mother was next door in the shower and her baby brother was on the couch next to her.

Originally published as Central Qld stepfather found not guilty of raping stepdaughter in jury trial