A mother and father who sexually, physically and psychologically abused their daughter for more than a decade conditioned her to expect such treatment and to believe it was normal, a court has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Judge Sarah Huggett said she had to put aside her "natural feelings as a human to the profoundly disturbing way the victim was treated" in sentencing the parents for the abuse they inflicted on their daughter from the age of 5 to 19.
In her sentencing remarks in Sydney Downing Centre District Court on Thursday, Judge Huggett said it was "rare" to see a case of such severe mistreatment of a child.
As the court heard the distressing details of abuse the daughter was subject to, she was in a separate room watching the sentencing via audio-visual link.
The parents were both elite sportspeople and coached their daughter, who was also a promising athlete and had achieved considerable sporting success nationally and internationally.
What would become years of abuse started when the daughter was in kindergarten and her father raped her in her bedroom while her mother was in hospital having just given birth. Her father continued to rape, mutilate and beat her during the next 14 years.
"He deliberately conditioned his daughter using physical, emotional and psychological means to the point she would have come to expect he would abuse her as and when he wished," Judge Huggett said.
"From an early age she thought the conduct of the sort she was experiencing at the hands of her father was normal."
The daughter was tied up, surrounded by barbed wire and left in a shed at the family's rural property for nights on end.
The father locked her overnight in a tiny box that was usually used for sports gear, made her eat hot chillies, stand on ants' nests and dragged to a creek on the property and held her under water. He used scissors, spanners, nails and other tools to abuse her and told her: "All I've ever tried to do is be a good father".
He threatened to punish her with the "shed" if she did not perform well in sports competitions, and said "I can do what I want to you, I own you".
The mother also sexually abused the daughter and gave her advice on how to please and arouse the father. On one occasion, both parents abused the daughter together.
Judge Huggett said the mother had abused her position in the "greatest way".
"She intended that her conduct would signal to the primary victim that the father's deviant conduct was normal and that it would be beneficial for the victim to participate in it," Judge Huggett said.
The daughter buried pairs of bloodied underpants and tools around the family's property. She scratched into the wood frame of the shed "trapped", "dad" and "mum is coming". She also kept a diary over the years detailing the abuse she had experienced.
When she was older the daughter attempted suicide multiple times, and spent months in a mental health clinic and did not return to the family home.
In 2011, after further physical and sexual assaults by her father, she made a full statement to police.
"I have no doubt at all that for the many years of her life the victim was confused, helpless and terrified in regards to what was occurring outside of the public eye and inside of the family home," Judge Huggett said.
A jury found the father guilty of 73 offences and the mother guilty of 13 offences, after a 12-week trial earlier this year.
At times throughout the sentencing, the father sighed and shook his head. Judge Huggett will continue the sentencing on Friday.
