Air Force officer jailed for sexually abusing teen step daughter
A decorated Air Force officer has been jailed as a judge prepares to sentence him for sexually abusing his teenage step daughter.
The 48-year-old has been free on bail for two years. His now ex-wife and relatives were in court to see him taken into custody.
The former officer has admitted 20 counts of sexually abusing his step daughter.
His former wife, who cannot be identified, says her daughter told her in front of them both in 2015 what had happened. She told her husband to leave.
"In the circumstances she is an absolutely amazing girl," the mother said when asked how her daughter is doing. "She's holding her head high and she won't let this dictate how she finishes up."
The offender received a medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours and his fellow soldiers say he was a confident leader.
"I thought I was a good judge of character but he had me fooled," a relative of the man said. "If this was in him right from the time we met him 22 years ago he led us all on a merry dance."
That ended when he was charged in November 2015 with abusing his step-daughter repeatedly when she was 13 and 14 years old.
After he was charged he spent two and a half months in custody. Then in February 2016 he was released on bail.
For the last two years he's been living in Queensland. It's understood he has become religious and joined a church.
Last November he pleaded guilty to all 20 charges and on Friday he did not oppose an application to revoke his bail. He smiled and waved to his mother and two sisters as he was taken into custody.
"I don't know about justice but I think he's finally done the right thing,"
He will be sentenced on May 25 and faces a maximum 20 years jail.
