A man who sexually abused his three step-daughters over about seven years has been described as “deranged” by one of his victims, while another described their home as a “filthy fortress of abuse”.
The 49-year-old man pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual penetration of a step-child, sexual assault of a child aged 16 to 17 under his care, supervision or authority, two counts of sexual assault of a child aged under 16 years, sexual assault, committing an indecent act with a child under 16, and two counts of grooming a child under 16 for sexual conduct.
Shepparton County Court heard the man abused the girls at their home in the Goulburn Valley, at several other places they lived throughout Victoria, and in motel rooms between 2016 and February this year.
The court was told the grooming of one of the girls started when she was 12 years old and the man normalised the girl sleeping in the same bed as him, showering together, and the girl taking her clothes off in front of him.
When the girl was 14, he started to sexually assault and rape her, with the prosecutor naming particular occasions but saying it happened to her “almost daily”.
When the girl was 17 or 18, the man and two of the girls lived in the country while their mother worked and stayed in the city during the week.
During that time, the girl would sleep in the man’s bed, and he would have sex with her almost daily despite her sister sleeping in the same area.
The court was told the man began grooming a second daughter in 2019 when she was 14 years old.
From mid-2020, he would regularly sexually assault the second girl by touching her.
The man groomed a third daughter when they would go on trips in 2016.
In a powerful victim impact statement she read aloud in the court, the main victim said she was “mourning my childhood and teenage years”.
She called the man a “master manipulator”.
“You became deranged with a view that made me your partner while you were married to my mother,” she said.
“I never loved you. It was a façade to keep myself safe.
“You fabricated everything in your mind.”
The victim said she had kept his abuse secret for so long because she felt it would ruin her and her family’s lives if she told anyone.
“I will forever be proud of myself for saving all of us,” she said.
The man’s wife spoke of her anguish at not knowing what he was doing to her three daughters while he “pretended to be a devoted father”.
The second girl spoke of still having nightmares where she would have to wake up and remind herself that he was gone from their lives.
The man’s barrister Anthony Pyne conceded the offending was very serious and was protracted over many years against multiple girls.
He also conceded it represented a “serious breach of trust” and the impact of the crimes would be “profound and lifelong” for the man’s victims.
However, he urged the judge to regard uncharged statements in the summary as “simply there to provide context”.
Mr Pyne also told the court of the number of courses the man had done in jail while on remand and said those steps were “consistent with a desire to rehabilitate”.
Judge Pardeep Tiwana has ordered a psychological assessment, saying he wanted to know more about any risk of re-offending before he sentences the man.
The matter is expected to come back to court in November.
GV Centre Against Sexual Assault provides free and confidential counselling, information, advocacy and support to people affected by sexual assault. Call 1800 112 343 or visit gvcasa.com.au