A convicted paedophile who fathered three of his victim’s children and believes the age of consent is a “big grey area” has been jailed for an attack on another girl in outback NSW.
The 58-year-old man, who cannot be named because of court orders, was sentenced in the District Court at Parramatta on Friday for two counts of sexual intercourse wixjmtzywth a 12-year-old girl.
In 2019, the court heard the girl’s mother went to work and left her with the man at an abandoned property which used a storage space for old cars being repaired in the Dubbo region.
When the girl went to sleep on a mattress in a farmhouse on the property, the man, a father of seven and grandfather to eight, laid down beside her and she woke to find his hands down her pants.
The court was told the man used his fingers to sexually assault the girl, before he attempted to use his penis to do the same but stopped when she disturbed him.
After the man rolled over, the girl grabbed her phone and texted her mother to report what happened.
Historical assaults
Judge Nanette Williams told the court that when the man assaulted the girl he was on bail, charged with similar child sex offences which related to a different victim and occurred between 2002 and 2003.
“He would buy her presents and she became infatuated with him,” Judge Williams said.
The second victim was aged 13 at the time and later became a mother to three of the man’s children.
He received multiple child sex convictions in November last year and received a minimum three-year jail sentence, backdated to when he first entered custody in 2019.
Constant trauma
Judge Williams said the 2019 farmhouse assaults on the other girl left her with suicidal thoughts, emotional pain and “deep feelings of self hate”.
“She says after this experience all she wishes is for a normal life,” Judge Williams told the court.
“The offender said the victim had fabricated the disclosure and was encouraged to do so by her mother.
“He said on the night of the offending he’d been asleep after taking oxycodone and endone.”
The man continues to deny wrongdoing despite multiple guilty verdicts being delivered by juries in two separate trials.
In an interview with a psychologist, the court heard the man denied ever having a sexual interest in children and said the age of consent was “a great big grey area”.
Record ‘not lengthy’
Before he went into custody, the court heard the man received convictions for firearm offences, acting to influence a witness, breaching apprehended violence orders, drink driving and unlawfully obtaining a financial advantage.
“In the scheme of things, for an offender of his age, which is approaching his 59th birthday, it is not a lengthy criminal history,” Judge Williams said.
“I’m also mindful of the subjective case that the offender puts before the court, that for many years he’s maintained a hard work ethic and worked in a variety of manual jobs, working with livestock and also working in the building industry and working towards his retirement.
“For someone to be able to work for a substantial period of time since leaving school in year 10, in my view, shows a positive light towards rehabilitation.”
Pain finding
Judge Williams said the girl reported feeling pain during the assault, but a finding that there was pain inflicted could not be made.
“I cannot be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that pain was found upon close reflection,” Judge Williams said.
“However, I note that the complainant was scared and she indicated she had teary or watery eyes.
“There was no violence, no threats of violence, no humiliation or degradation, save for what would be involved in the index offending by the virtue of the act itself.”
The man was convicted and handed a nine-year head jail sentence.
He will be eligible for parole in 2027.
Mental health support
