Thaindian News

Melbourne, Apr 19 (ANI): An Australian man, who had sex with his stepdaughter 15-years ago when she was 11 and father a child by her, has been given an 18-month suspended jail sentence.

Brisbane District Court Judge David Reid was told that the man was 42-years of age when he slept with his stepdaughter, making it a criminal offence.

The man had originally been charged by police in 1995, and arrested twice, but he managed to escape interstate after he was given bail, and he was able to elude police for 14 years, 18 months and three-days.

During that time he returned to Brisbane undetected by authorities and married the girl, who by then had turned 18, and they produced a second child, a son, in 2005, while also raising their now 14-year-old daughter.

It was also revealed the two separated in 2007 and remained good friends.

“The facts of this case are most unusual and unlikely to ever be repeated,” News.com.au quoted Judge Reid as saying while sentencing the man.

“Your daughter born as a result of this offence describes you as awesome dad and says she is lucky to have you,” he said.

Judge Reid said, as appalling as the facts in the case were, there was no evidence the man “groomed” the girl for sex and that the child had been the sexual aggressor during the one-off encounter.

He said impressionable young girls rightly needed to be protected from predatory older men and that deterrence was an important consideration in cases of this nature.

The man, now aged 58 and who until his recapture in March resided on Brisbane’s northside, pleaded guilty to an act of unlawful carnal knowledge with a girl in his care under 12 during the September 1995 school holidays.

The so-called victim, who has supported the man since being charged, sighed in relief when Judge Reid announced he would not be returning to jail. (ANI)