By DANE LILLINGSTONE
A 21-YEAR-OLD Warwick man accused of molesting his seven-year-old stepdaughter was found guilty of one count of rape and sentenced to five years imprisonment, at Warwick District Court last week .
The man, who pleaded not guilty, looked distraught upon hearing the verdict, immediately looking down and shaking his head.
Upon handing down the verdict, Judge Douglas J. McGill said: “Because you were a de facto stepfather, you were in a position of trust. There was an abuse of this trust.”
He said that there was “no indication of remorse.”
The trial centred on the relationship of the man and the girl’s mother and involved a bitter custody disagreement.
The couple have one child together, with the woman having an additional child with another man.
The young girl told police she had been sexually assaulted by the man in their home in Warwick last year. She was taken to the police station months after the incident by her grandmother where she told police that the man had taken off her clothes and raped her.
It was said that the incident occurred when the mother of the girl woke up to find the man not in her bed and then found him asleep in her daughter’s room with her daughter.
The girl gave her testimony by video link and said in a statement that “(He) put his, in my privates. I said ouch.”
When asked what was said next, she said “he pulled his pants up and said don’t tell mummy.”
Medical evidence submitted to the court outlined that there were signs of penetration by someone with something on the child.
In a police statement, the man denied having ever been alone or in bed with the girl, or that there had been other accusations of sexual abuse against the girl previously.
The defence barrister argued that the woman was left distraught after a disagreement with the man over custody of the woman’s other child.
The defence barrister also argued that the story may have been fed to the girl by her mother or grandmother as revenge for having custody of their other child.
At one point in questioning the girl was asked if her mummy instructed her to tell the story and she replied yes.
They also argued that there were inconsistencies in testimonies and dates and that the timing was strange, with the police complaint made months after the incident and shortly after a custody disagreement.
