Geelong man found guilty by jury of raping step-granddaughter

A Geelong pensioner found guilty for the second time of the ‘brazen’ rape of his step-granddaughter was jailed in 2011 over the sexual abuse of another child family member in the 1990s.

The man has been found guilty of abusing his step-granddaughter for a second time, following a trial in 2023 and a retrial in 2025.

A Geelong man found guilty for a second time of abusing his step-granddaughter was jailed more than a decade ago for abusing another family member.

The man, aged in his 70s who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, was last week found guilty by a jury of three counts of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 and two counts of committing an indecent act with a child under the age of 16.

The charges related to his step-granddaughter, who the jury heard the man abused across three incidents between 2001 and 2005, when she was aged between 8 and 11.

The man appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Tuesday for a plea hearing, following the trial before Judge Geoffrey Chettle.

The trial was a retrial ordered by the Court of Appeal after he was jailed for 11 years on three counts of incest and two indecent act offences following an earlier trial in 2023.

The man appealed and successfully argued that he had been disadvantaged by the jury not being given a direction concerning forensic disadvantage.

The man’s lawyer, barrister Cara Foote, submitted prison would be onerous for the man due his depression and anxiety, declining health and the “prospect he may not come out of prison alive”.

Ms Foote clarified that his declining health was not in relation to any specific diagnoses, simply his advancing age, and that these factors were “simply part of the sentencing synthesis” that Judge Chettle must apply.

She told the court the man had also suffered the loss of a family member he was close with.

Ms Foote said it was a “perhaps” unusual case, as it comprised three distinct incidents spread over years, and said there was “no evidence of grooming behaviour”.

The court heard that because several of the charges had changed, the maximum penalties were reduced from 25 to 10 years, even as the man was found guilty of the same conduct.

Crown prosecutor Raphael de Vietri submitted the man was in a position of trust, which was an aggravating factor on the crimes, and that he plied his victim with lollies and money after the offending.

“The particular modus operandi of this offending involved serious emotional manipulation,” Mr de Vietri said.

“It was brazen offending; offending that put this little girl in a terribly confusing position for many, many years of her life.”

Mr de Vietri said while choosing to run a trial was never an aggravating factor, it bore weight in the court’s analysis of the man’s remorse and “obviously there’s none”.

Despite the man being guilty of abusing two female members in separate decades, there’s no admission to date, the court heard.

“Ultimately, a substantial term of imprisonment must be imposed and community protection must be at the forefront,” Mr de Vietri said.

The man had previously been sentenced, by Judge Chettle, to six and a half years prison in 2011 for sexually abusing another female family member in the 1990s.

That woman, his step-daughter and an aunt of his other victim, was aged between 12 to 13 at the time of the abuse.

The man will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Originally published as Geelong man found guilty by jury of raping step-granddaughter