Animal sexual assault, child rape
Cairns, QLD (AU)

Incident Date: Thursday, May 13, 2004

Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: man

A sex offender has been jailed for 19 years over his decade-long reign of abuse against young girls, described as the worst sex crimes ever seen by the senior detective and Crown prosecutor on the case.

The nine rape offences and prolonged sexual abuse of the man�s three nieces and his only daughter resulted in his fathering his daughter�s child when she was 16.

The girls were as young as six when the abuse started in a small Aboriginal community north of Cairns.

"It was the worst case of systematic sexual abuse that I have investigated," 24-year police veteran Det-Sgt Trevor Perham of Mossman CIB said ouside Cairns District Court yesterday.

His emotional comments came after the 61-year-old man, who can not be identified, pleaded guilty to 14 sex offences including multiple counts of rape, sodomy and a charge of bestiality.

The two-and-a-half-year investigation which took Det-Sgt Perham and Mossman Det-Sen Constable Leo Lahey across Queensland in search of victims and witnesses started only after one victim came forward in 2004.

"If it wasn�t for the bravery of one victim, the others would never have been found," Det-Sgt Perham said.

The investigation took a heavy toll on police and Det-Sgt Perham said it left "scars that never heal".

"Not only do these things affect the victims and their families, but the investigating police have to struggle to come to terms with some of that stuff too," he said.

"The human cost of this man�s crimes is way up there with the worst I have ever seen.

"They are on par with homicides � they take people�s lives. They are still alive but what sort of life are they left with? It dismantles their lives."

The 19-year sentence is believed to be one of the longest sentences imposed for sex crimes in Queensland and was longer than the maximum 18 years requested by Crown prosecutor Gelma Meoli.

She, too, described it as "the worst category of offending I have prosecuted".

Judge Kerry O�Brien said he had considered why he should not impose a life sentence, but noted the man was entitled to credit for pleading guilty.

"There is little that can be said in your favour," Judge O�Brien said.

"Conduct of this sort, particularly given the young age of these girls, must have had a significant detrimental effect upon their lives."

He said the man had subjected his daughter to "appalling and degrading treatment".

Ms Meoli said the crimes had "torn apart the small community" and devastated a family.

The man�s daughter, now aged 34, lived with memories of her own ordeal and also seeing her cousins being raped.

"She hates her father; he has ruined her life," Ms Meoli said.

The man sat slumped in the dock and kept his head down during the sentence.

He looked up only in the final minutes to tell the judge he was going to be sick.

Defence barrister Barry Murray offered no excuses but said his client had "finally acknowledged responsibility".

He said the man was in poor health after heart surgery in 2006 and was on dialysis for kidney failure.

The man has already served nearly 10 months.

No date for parole eligibility was set.

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