Father who raped daughter when she was aged 9 was given good behaviour bond
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- Category: Uncategorised
- Created: Sunday, 07 July 2013 04:02
- Written by Janet Fife-Yeomans - Daily Telegraph
A YOUNG woman was rushed to hospital after collapsing in despair when her rapist father not only escaped jail but was let off with a good-behaviour bond.
Her father had pleaded guilty to repeatedly raping his daughter, now 19, since she was just nine years old.
The woman's lawyer, Greg Walsh, called the sentence a "political and legal disgrace".
"The justice system has failed her miserably," Mr Walsh said. He said the 19-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in a fragile state under medical care.
It is the latest stark example of judges being out of touch with how the community expects paedophiles to be dealt with harshly.
The Daily Telegraph has launched a campaign for mandatory minimum jail sentences for all child-sex offenders - to bring the sentencing in to line with public expectations.
Acting Justice Minister Michael Gallacher said yesterday the Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb SC was reviewing the decision and "will provide advice regarding the possibility of an appeal".
"This is a shocking decision that does not reflect community expectations," Mr Gallacher said.
"The community rightly expects those who engage in child sex assault to receive a custodial sentence."
Karen Willis, of the NSW Rape Crisis Centre, said there was no legal reason incest should not be treated as seriously as any rape or sexual assault.
"If he had done this to a complete stranger it would be a different story and the world would be baying for his blood," she said.
"If someone had taken a child from the street and sexually assaulted them over years, they would be jailed."
The maximum sentence the father faced was 20 years.
"I think it is a political and legal disgrace," Mr Walsh said.
"I cannot understand. It's beyond my comprehension."
The District Court was told the man, 55, constantly abused his daughter for five years from the age of nine, sometimes in the marital bedroom with her mother in the bed.
He pleaded guilty to four representative counts of aggravated sexual assault and one of aggravated indecent assault.
Judge Roy Ellis, 59, put the man on a three-year good behaviour bond on the condition he attend a residential "treatment program" in Sydney's west for men guilty of incest.
The man will be one of the last offenders to attend the program as part of a so-called pre-diversion of offenders program which was axed by the government late last year.
Nobody charged on or after September 1 last year is eligible.
"The program does not reflect community expectations and is not supported by the government. That is why the government abolished the program," Mr Gallacher said. Mr Walsh said the young woman had endured enormous suffering as a result of the "horrendous" sexual assaults and suffered from a major depressive illness.
He said the lenient sentence was the final straw.
"It was (her) understanding and natural expectation that (her father) would face a lengthy term of imprisonment for his abhorrent behaviour," Mr Walsh said. "The impact of (her) learning what happened in court was she had to be admitted on an emergency basis to her local hospital and her medical condition was exacerbated."
