A Latrobe Valley man will serve a minimum of five years in prison after pleading guilty to three charges of incest against his two stepdaughters.
The 57 year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced in the Latrobe Valley County Court on Thursday to a total of seven years in prison.
The abuse began in 2006 when the younger daughter was 11 years old and ceased in 2008 when the girls’ mother evicted her then-husband from their Latrobe Valley home after discovering him abusing the older daughter, who was 17 at the time, the court heard.
In sentencing the man, judge John Carmody said the abuse of the younger daughter had occurred mostly on weekends, not every weekend, but “pretty much every chance he got he would do something” and on one occasion in 2006 when she protested to the abuse, he grabbed her by the throat and threatened to kill her if she told anyone what he had done.
She had told a friend about the abuse.
Mr Carmody said she was now “a frightened little girl in a young woman’s body”.
“Your actions will be with her for life,” he said.
The court heard on 22 November 2008 the man had used his keys to unlock a bungalow where the older daughter was sleeping.
She woke to find him on top of her with his penis inside her.
The mother, who was having difficulty sleeping that night, got out of bed to look for her husband – who had told another family member he was outside locking the shed – and found him in the bungalow with her daughter.
It was the last incident in a number of sexual offences against the older daughter.
Mr Carmody said the man denied his actions in the initial police interview.
He described those actions as a “gross breach of trust”.
“Incest strikes at the very heart of the most important building blocks of civilised society – family,” Mr Carmody said.
“Your actions are inexcusable and abhorrent.
“The damage you have caused can never fully be known.”
The man will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
