An Illawarra man who confessed to sexually abusing his young step-granddaughter for nearly half a decade in the mid-2000s will learn his punishment on Thursday.
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The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faces up to 25 years behind bars after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and one count of aggravated indecent assault.
The man has already been convicted of similar offences in the past relating to the sexual abuse of the girl’s mother – his step-daughter – when she was a teenager in the early-1990s.
The court heard the mother, a shift worker, was separated from her partner and had to leave her children in the care of their grandmother and step-grandfather while she went to work, which is when the assaults occurred.
On each occasion, the girl was molested while her grandmother was away from the house.
At a sentencing hearing last Friday, the now-teenage victim told Wollongong District Court the abuse had left her living in a constant state of fear.
“I can’t find ways of making myself feel safe or calm or to protect myself,” the girl said in a victim impact statement read out in court by a family friend.
“I don’t see a future for myself in anyway...I stopped seeing my future when the abuse began.
“I used to cry every day. It still happens, but now it’s every week.”
The girl also admitted self-harming as a result of the trauma.
“Sometimes I feel so bad I cut myself, and I think that will always be with me,” she said.
“I want him to know how much pain he’s caused. I hate him for what he’s done to me.”
Defence lawyer Simon Healy conceded his client had “grossly breached” his step-daughter’s trust by abusing the girl.
He said the man would have no family support when he was eventually released from prison.
However, he said the man was remorseful for what he’d done and wanted to do another round of intensive sex offender treatment in custody.
“He has a need to return to rehabilitation,” Mr Healy said.
“The benefit he obtained from it [on the first occasion] was not enough to check himself and prevent re-offending.”
