Thaindian News

Melbourne, June 15 (ANI): An Australian man has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years jail for sexually assaulting and beating his 11-year-old daughter.

The Victorian County Court was told on June 15 that the 33-year-old single father of four, who cannot be named, had committed the offence between December 2008 and June 2009.

The sexual assaults came to light only after the man hit his four children with a belt trying to find out who had stolen 3 dollars from a change bowl.

The children went to school that morning upset over the beatings and a teacher reported it to police who then discovered through interviewing the girl that she was an incest victim.

The judge said the man had only pleaded guilty halfway through the trial after his daughter had gone through the trauma of giving evidence and where it had been alleged she had made the whole thing up.

“Your level of insight makes it difficult to see that you are completely contrite,” the Herald Sun quoted the judge as saying.

“The message must be sent to the community that if you sexually abuse children, harsh punishment will follow,” he stated.

He added that as a sole carer, the father’s role had been to protect his children.

The man pleaded guilty to one count of incest and one count of causing serious injury.

The judge sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years in jail with a minimum non-parole period of five-and-a-half years.

The man will be registered as a sex offender for life. (ANI)