Father jailed for 3½ years for indecent dealing, sexual penetration of daughter when she was aged under 13

A father has been jailed for 3½ years after pleading guilty to indecent dealing and sexual penetration of his daughter when she was under 13 years of age and the family was living in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The man, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the victim, was sentenced in Perth District Court this week. In her sentencing remarks, Judge Mara Barone said the man’s offending was a “gross breach of trust” of his responsibility as a parent “to care and nurture your children; to love them unconditionally and to protect them”. The man pleaded guilty to two charges — one of indecent dealing when the victim was seven years-old, and another of sexual penetration using his fingers when the victim was 11 or 12 years-old. Judge Barone said the offending occurred in the victim’s bedroom on both occasions. “As it might be commonly understood, the bedroom is often the sanctity of a young child because it’s their one private place in the whole of the house, which is a family home,” she said. “It’s where children often go to be alone with their thoughts and to feel safe and protected if they’re at risk, and it is of significance that your offending occurred in the very space that your daughter had the right to feel safe and comfortable. “So your offending robbed her of the comfort of her bedroom.” Judge Barone noted that after the first incident, the man had said, “Don’t tell anyone. It’s her secret.” The judge said the victim had experienced immense pain and trauma as a result, which had been expressed in an “intensely personal letter that she has written to the court”. “In that letter, she sets out, very eloquently, the impact that your offending has had on her life,” the judge said. “It’s impacted her ability to get mundane things like medical treatment that all women — and young women — need to attend to in their life. “It’s impacted the way that she thinks that she may be a mother and how her relationship with her husband exists. “It causes her to fear childbirth or future relationships with her children. “It’s caused, obviously, significant rifts in her own family in that she doesn’t have a relationship with her mother, and obviously, her relationship with her brother is extremely complicated by the circumstances of your offending. “She goes on to talk about the fact that it’s affected her in terms of her own mental health. “She suffers from PTSD and anxiety, and that’s impacted everything from what she can do with her life in terms of how she spends her time, how she spends her enjoyment time, but also how and when she can work. “She said in her letter: ‘I have no innocent memories of my childhood, as they are forever tainted by his abuse.’” Judge Barone said it was clear that even though the offending happened some time ago, the victim still lived it as an everyday reality. The judge noted the maximum penalty for indecent dealing was 10 years’ jail, while it was 20 years for the second count of sexual penetration. She also raised the issue that the man did not tell a psychologist who was writing a report for the court about what he had confessed to in a video record of interview, which was “some offending” that occurred in another country involving an 11-year-old child. “Now, it may be because you were intensely ashamed; it may be that you were very scared about what this report was going to say and what it might have in terms of an impact in this sentencing process,” she said. But the judge did say she accepted the man had been himself a victim of abuse at the hands of his uncle in that other country. “I do accept what the psychologist says . . . that your own victimisation as a young child has likely led to a skewed sexual trajectory on your part, leading in part to your offending and how you could have offended against your own daughter,” she said. The judge noted the man had pleaded guilty to the charges on the morning his trial was to begin. “But the State has reminded me that you had informed (them) of those pleas, and the negotiations were settled on the Friday . . . before the trial, which does mean that your daughter came to the morning of trial in the understanding that she would not be giving evidence,” the judge said. “Your pleas of guilty were late, but they are valuable. “They’re valuable not only because it means your daughter didn’t have to give evidence and did not have to give evidence in front of a jury and say out loud and lay plain in public space your offending, it’s valuable in an interfamilial context for these reasons. “It puts to bed any suggestion or belief in the family about any equivocation of your position. “And so the plea is valuable not only to your daughter and her own personal vindication, but in her vindication of her complaint to the other members of your family, some of whom may have struggled to be able to support her in the way that perhaps she would have hoped they could after having made her own complaint.” Judge Barone said despite it being a late plea, she would allow a discount of 12½ per cent from the sentence for sexual penetration. She also took into account the man’s childhood trauma as a mitigating factor. The judge also said that while she had some reservations about the man’s expressions of remorse, “I am prepared to accept that you have had, over time, a growing sense of remorse. “That you are someone who has, at least, once it has become out in the open, undertaken a course of voluntary treatment. “You have done that over an extended period of time, since August 2021, and you commenced it before you were criminally charged. “But there is clearly still some work to do, given the fact that even after having been in counselling since 2021, your recitation of your history and what occurred to the forensic psychologist wasn’t what I would describe as totally full and frank and involved some downplaying.” Judge Barone said that taking everything into account that she must, she was satisfied the only appropriate sentences for each of the counts were terms of imprisonment to be immediately served. “In my view, the total appropriate sentence is one of 3½ years’ imprisonment,” she said. The man was made eligible for parole after serving 21 months. If you or someone you know needs help, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), or Sexual Assault Counselling Australia on 1800 211 028, the WA Sexual Assault Resource Centre on 6458 1828 or 1800 199 888, or Lifeline on 13 11 14.