SA man jailed for 'heinous' sex crimes
A remorseless South Australian man has been jailed for at least 12 years for "heinous" sex crimes against his young daughter, her mother and the mother's three sisters.
"In my view, this is sexual depravity in the highest order," said Judge Wayne Chivell, referring to the Adelaide man's crimes against his daughter.
Her birth was the result of the man having underage sex with a teenager, who had three younger sisters who had looked up to him like an elder brother.
The man, now 51, was found guilty by a South Australian District Court jury of persistent sexual exploitation of his daughter when she was aged eight or nine.
He pleaded guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl's mother, who was aged 15 at the time, but the judge said the man had no choice to entering the plea given the birth of their daughter.
The man was found guilty by a judge of persistent sexual exploitation of one sister when she was aged about 13, and of unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assaults of another sister when she was 14 or 15.
He also was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault against the third sister when she was five or six.
Judge Chivell said the conduct had been repeated, sustained and remorseless, noting the man had behaved "in this disgraceful" way over a period of about 10 years.
The damage he had caused to his five victims and other family members had been immense.
"The victims had to give evidence in court three times and you maintained your innocence in a total of four trials," the judge said.
The man had faced retrials after winning two appeals.
He had robbed his daughter of her innocence before puberty and had groomed her from when she was about five.
The judge set a maximum term of 18 years six months, after taking into account 18 months he had spent in custody on remand.
