Australian man sentenced to 22 years for sexual abuse of daughter and granddaughter
The Queanbeyan District Court in the Australian state of New South Wales sentenced a man in his 70s to 22 years in prison for sexually abusing his daughter and granddaughter. His name has not been disclosed for legal reasons. As ABC News Australia reports, the man pleaded guilty to ten child sex offence charges, including four counts of sexual intercourse with a child.
Court sentence
Judge Thomas Jones set a 15-year non-parole period for the convicted man. He will be eligible to apply for parole in December 2039.
When handing down the sentence, the judge described the man’s actions as a devastating abuse of trust. According to Jones, the convicted man exploited the trust and vulnerability of his own daughter and granddaughter, while children in a family are virtually defenceless against sexual acts by a parent.
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Case circumstances
The court heard that the sexual abuse of the five-year-old granddaughter ended in late 2024 after the man’s wife caught him abusing the child at their home in the Snowy Mountains region. He then voluntarily disclosed other instances of sexual abuse of his granddaughter that had occurred over three months in late 2024.
During the police investigation, the convicted man’s daughter said that he had sexually abused her when she was between six and 12 years old. According to the court, this took place in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales between 2004 and 2009.
The court also heard that the man’s criminal history included sexual offences against his son several decades ago. The convicted man said that he himself had been sexually abused in his youth, while a forensic psychiatric expert diagnosed him with paedophilic disorder.
