Elderly man sentenced to jail for unlawful relationship with four-year-old girl

Elderly man shows ‘no remorse’ after being sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for maintaining an unlawful relationship with a four-year-old girl.

The girl’s mother learned about the abuse when she asked her daughter one evening if she had been touched inappropriately. Her daughter responded by first saying nothing had happened, but then asked her mother:

‘Would I get a smack if I told the truth?’

In following interviews with police she was able to give details of inappropriate touching and sexual acts that she says happened ‘all the time’.

Gympie District Court heard that the man had frequent opportunities to be alone with the young girl for several hours a week for several years.

He never confessed, however the court listened to a telephone call between the man and the mother shortly after her becoming aware of her daughter’s abuse. In the call he says he had been ‘playing games’ and ‘mucking around’.

Then man was found guilty by a jury of maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child, and sentenced to four-and-a-half years behind bars. Judge Helen Bowskill cited his age and poor health as factors when handing down the sentence.

The girl is receiving counselling for emotional and behavioural problems which have arisen since the abuse.