Mid West grandfather jailed over decades of sex abuse

A Mid West grandfather could die in prison after he was jailed for 15 years over the decades-long sexual abuse of his own daughter, granddaughter, and the daughter of a family friend. The 64-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, sexually abused his three victims over a 35-year period from 1983 to 2018. He was also sentenced for possessing thousands of child-exploitation images. See also: Geraldton court told of grandfather’s alleged child sex abuse Mid West man found guilty of child abuse spanning decades in Geraldton trial An investigation into the man began in February 2018 after his granddaughter revealed to her parents he had molested and taken inappropriate photographs of her. The revelation led to her aunt stepping forward and telling police about a 20-year “history of abuse her father had perpetrated against her”. She told the court she had been abused between the ages of four and 23 and did not come forward because “her family didn’t believe her”. She said she had an arrangement with her dad that she would testify if she ever found out he had done it to someone else. In court, the woman described the control her father had over her and how she was “merely a plaything” to him and the “traumatic” legacy of his actions. His second victim stood up in court to say her trauma had carried through to this day but she felt relief in knowing he had been found guilty. “I had spent decades feeling an unspeakable pain for something I had no say or power to stop,” she said. The man was sentenced in the District Court of Geraldton on Friday after an eight-day trial in November led a jury to find him guilty of all 25 charges. He had maintained his innocence since the allegations first came to light. “In sentencing you, I’ve taken into account the very real possibility that you will die in prison,” Judge Michael Gething said. “This offending represents a gross breach of the trust families have.” Prosecutor Leslie Gabriel said the court needed to publicly condemn this type of conduct through a lengthy prison sentence to “reflect the community’s intolerance for the abuse of children”. “(He) sacrificed the innocence, wellbeing and youth of his own daughter, granddaughter and the daughter of a friend in the pursuit of his own sexual perversion,” he said. The man was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 13 years. His earliest release date will be February 2031. After sentencing, defence lawyer George Giudice requested that the court keep all the evidence intact and indicated the man may appeal against his sentence.