Australian gets 11-year jail for raping daughter

SYDNEY - A Melbourne man, who has repeatedly drugged and sexually abused his daughter, has been jailed for more than 11 years, a media report said Wednesday.

He also threatened to kill his 12-year-old daughter if she told her mother, The Age reported on its website.

The father, 35, who cannot be named, told a psychologist after his arrest that he had “become a monster” and had “let the beast in me get out of control”.

He told the girl he would teach her about sex before abusing her at least weekly between September last year and February, at times plying her with alcohol and drugs.

When the daughter began crying at the dinner table, the father threatened: “Do you want me to get a knife and kill someone?”. He warned the girl she should “think about what you’re going to say or you will kill us all”.

Two days later, as her mother drove her to school, the daughter divulged the abuse.

After packing their belongings, the mother drove from the house but her partner gave chase, driving on the wrong side of the road in an attempt to collide with the car.

The mother drove to a service station where she and her daughter hid behind the counter as the father placed a suicide note on her car.

Police went to the family house and arrested the father when he emerged clutching a long-bladed kitchen knife and begging officers: “Shoot me, I’ve done something bad.”

The man pleaded guilty to 20 charges, including 11 of incest, three of administering a drug of dependence for sexual penetration and one each of attempted incest, intentionally causing injury and assault police.

In sentencing him Wednesday, a Victorian county court judge described the crimes as “grotesque” and the effects on his victim as “substantial and, it would appear, permanent”.

The judge, who also can’t be named, said while the man had no prior convictions and appeared genuinely remorseful, the crimes were “extremely serious”.

He was sentenced to 11 years and five months in prison, with a non-parole period of eight years and five months.

He will also be registered as a serious sex offender for life. He bowed his head but showed little emotion as his sentence was delivered.