A SWAN Hill man guilty of producing child abuse material involving his teenage daughter has been given “credit” by a judge for destroying the images, who said this “very much ameliorates the offending”.
The predator, who was already on the sex offender register for life, was sentenced in the County Court recently on single charges each of incest and producing child abuse material.
The court heard that in July last year the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took his 16-year-old daughter to an off-track road to ride her motorbike, near Swan Hill, where he sexually assaulted her and took pictures.
Judge John Smallwood said that after the offences occurred, the girl rode away on the motorbike and sought help.
In sentencing the man to five years jail with a minimum three years before being eligible for parole, he told him: “You, having realised that she had seen other people, destroyed the photographs and that is to your credit. It also very much ameliorates the offending”.
“You can come back from all this,” Judge Smallwood said.
He said victim impact statements from the teenager and her mother “really point out the evil of incest”.
The victim said she felt “angry, afraid and isolated”.
“When the crime first happened, I felt very angry that he lied to me,” she said.
“I also felt really betrayed as when we were growing up he told me he wasn’t the person that everyone was saying he was and said that he was changed and he could be trusted but he was lying to me my whole life.”
She described how her sleeping habits had changed, the impact on her schooling, on her confidence in herself, on her perception of her own body and it “has really impacted in terms of so far as the family is concerned, as to how it functions”.
The man was already on the sex offender register for life after being convicted of sexually penetrating a 14-year-old girl.
In sentencing, Judge Smallwood took into account the man’s guilty plea, accompanied by remorse and a “sense of shame”.
“Whilst your record of interview really took away any opportunity to dispute the matter, it clearly saved your daughter, the victim, from giving evidence and even further trauma than what she had suffered,” he said.
“The circumstances here are I accept that it was momentary, that it was unplanned, that the photographs were destroyed.
“The difficulty for you, is that you have done it before, not to a daughter but to a 14-year-old girl. That then has to be factored into the overall situation.
“You are a serious sexual offender on both the charges.
“Tendered on your behalf were letters of support from your eldest daughter, who continues to support you.
“There is also a letter from your partner, which is supportive of you, and I accept that you have over the years been relatively active in the community.”
Judge Smallwood said the man’s prospects of rehabilitation were up to him.
“The risk of you reoffending has been described as moderate,” he said.
“What it is going to be like in a few years’ time, I do not know. So, I will be leaving that to the parole board. But certainly, your prospects of rehabilitation are nowhere near extinguished. You can come back from all this.”
