Melbourne, June 16 :A Victorian county court on Tuesday sentenced a 33-year-old man to seven-and-a-half years in prison for having sex with his 11-year-old daughter.
The father of four children, whose identity was not revealed, committed the offences between December 2008 and June 2009, the judge said.
The sexual abuse came to light when the man hit his four children with a belt trying to find out who had stolen three dollars from a change bowl.
The upset children had gone to school that morning and a teacher had reported it to police. It was revealed in consequent investigations that the girl was an incest victim.
The judge said the man pleaded guilty halfway through the trial only after his daughter underwent the trauma of showing evidence following his allegations that she had “made the whole thing up.”
“Your level of insight makes it difficult to see that you are completely contrite… The message must be sent to the community that if you sexually abuse children, harsh punishment will follow,” the judge said.
The judge noted that the father was the sole caretaker and it was his duty to protect his children.
The man pleaded guilty to one count of incest and one count of causing serious injury. The judge sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years in jail with a minimum non-parole period of five-and-a-half years.The man will be registered as a sex offender for life.