A five-year-old girl who was tortured and repeatedly raped by her mother’s boyfriend is afraid of sleeping in her room on her own or in the dark, and also now hates the colour red.
*WARNING – Distressing content
The Queensland man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, had started a relationship with his victim’s mother in June, 2014, after advertising on a dating site as looking for a woman with a child.
The man’s first attack occurred six months after the couple first met, The Courier Mail reported. Her tormentor threatened to stab her with a knife if she told anyone.
As her mother slept the young girl was raped and tortured with a burning cigarette in the man’s carport, connected to the north-of-Brisbane home.
The girl’s mother found out about the sexual abuse and torture one night when she found her young daughter outside with the man after yet another attack.
The mother rescued her daughter, who had been tied up during the assault.
The child then revealed to police that she had also been raped by the man at her grandmother’s house six months prior to him being caught.
The man plead guilty to seven charges including four counts of rape, possession of child exploitation material and torture before Brisbane District Court.
He has been sentenced to ten years behind bars, a minimum of eight years without parole.
The Courier Mail reports, “In tying her up and burning her you seemed to be playing out some adult sex fantasy of your own, related to bondage,” Judge Brendan Butler said, as he sentenced the man.
He said it was the “most humiliating treatment” of a five-year-old girl and showed callous disregard for her.
“You treated her in a dehumanised way, as a sexual object. You were clearly uncaring about the impact it would have in the future.
“That was in circumstances where the mother had trusted you.”
His young victim still lives in fear more than a year after the abuse was stopped.
She is now afraid of sleeping in her room on her own or in the dark. The court also heard the girl’s grandparents were forced to sell their car because it was red – her attacker’s favourite colour.
If you are experiencing sexual assault or domestic and family violence please contact 1800 RESPECT
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