By DANE LILLINGSTONE
Last month’s case of the 21-year-old Warwick man who was convicted for raping his seven-year-old stepdaughter is not over yet with Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath demanding a harsher sentence.
The man was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in Warwick District Court after being found guilty of the offence.
Mrs D’Ath has since requested that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions appeal against the sentence.
An appeal has now been lodged in the Court of Appeal with Mrs D’Ath describing the sentence as inadequate.
Upon handing down the verdict last month, 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,” and went on to state that there was “no indication of remorse”.
At the time of sentencing Judge McGill asked the defence and prosecuting barristers for a suitable sentence.
The man’s defence barrister explained that there wasn’t a precedent sentence and offered five years as a suggestion.
It went unchallenged by the Crown prosecutor and the sentence was handed down.
The young girl told police she had been sexually assaulted by the man in their home in Warwick last year.
She was taken to a police station months after the incident by her grandmother where she told officers that the man had taken off her clothes and raped her.
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.”
