Detectives involved in the case leaving court
Kate Campbell Perth Now
A PERTH father, who was jailed for more than 22 years for orchestrating a sick pedophile ring and sexually abusing his daughter repeatedly for years, told police “it was fun while it lasted”.
The shocking case was described by District Court Judge Philip Eaton as one of the most serious examples of child sexual abuse to ever come before a WA court.
The single father, 42, who lived in Perth’s northern suburbs, met other men through online sites, including Craigslist, and then offered his daughter to the strangers to sexually violate.
The girl, who lived with her father after her parents’ marriage broke up, was aged between 11 and 13 when she was subjected to the abuse over a two-year period from 2013 to 2015.
The man was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in the WA District Court on Thursday – one of the longest terms imposed by that court – and won’t be considered for parole until December 2036.
As graphic details of his crimes were revealed today, Judge Eaton said they involved a “high degree of depravity and exploitation”.
They involved the father repeatedly raping his daughter, watching as the other men did the same, forcing her to shower with an abuser, forcing her to wear bondage attire, filming her and giving her a stupefying drug.
“You allowed strangers to treat your daughter as a sexual object and you treated her the same yourself,” he said.
The man placed online ads stating he was a lonely single father with a young daughter who was looking for friendship or modelling opportunities for his child.
Prosecutor Justin Whalley said the man had committed an “egregious breach of trust” and his actions were the “complete subversion of the proper role of a parent”.
Instead of protecting and nurturing her as any right-minded parent would do, he subjected her to “depravity of the highest order”.
He said the man, when spoken to by police in mid-2015, told them while he had regrets “it was fun while it lasted” but it had “went way over the line” and he wanted to leave “that scene” and return to a normal life.
Mr Whalley said the father watched the other pedophiles have sex with or molest his daughter, often encouraging her to engage in the activity and doing nothing when she protested or refused.
Other times, the strangers watched the father sexually abuse his daughter.
The abuse mainly happened at the father’s home, the homes of the other men or in hotel rooms.
The father was sentenced on 61 charges – including sexual penetration of a child, indecent dealing and recording of a child, procuring another to abuse a child, drugging his own daughter and compel her to provide a sexual service – after many of them were rolled into one or dropped. He was initially charged with 230 offences.
On occasions, the girl was forced to wear “bondage” attire and pose for sexually explicit photos taken by her father or the other men.
In one incident, a video was made of the girl shackled to a bed, wearing a black full-face mask, with a gag in her mouth and wearing a dog collar with the word “bitch” on it. In the video, the girl can seen struggling with her restraints and heard saying: “stop please dad”.
Dawid Volmer, former pastor of a Christian church in Carramar and the head of the WA Prison Fellowship Program was jailed for 10 and a half years for his role in the pedophile ring.Source:News Corp Australia
Another time, the father forced his daughter to have a shower with another man despite repeated refusals and her describing her abuser as “disgusting”.
The father also told of the other men that he was “in love” with his daughter.
Judge Eaton said the offender had written a letter to him, expressing his “remorse, regret and utter shame for what you did to your daughter”.
The father appeared to cry as he pleaded guilty to the charges and hid his head in his hands for most of his sentencing.
The judge said the man’s actions would likely have lasting and irreparable consequences for his daughter, who was now 14, and maintained an attitude of loyalty to her father despite what he had forced her to endure.
“I suggest she was doing it to please you while protesting from time to time,” he said.
The man did not pimp out his daughter for money rather for his own sexual gratification, the judge added.
Mark Wesley Liggins, 47, of Coodanup, jailed for two years in May for using an online chat forum to engage in sexual conversations and exchange nude photographs with children. Picture: Daniel WilkinsSource:News Corp Australia
Police charged eight men last July under Operation Ripstop, with the father pleading guilty in February.
In November 2015 Christian church pastor Dawid Volmer was also jailed for his part in the pedophile ring.
During sentencing it was revealed the girl’s father had answered Volmer’s ad on Craigslist offering sexual massages. Volmer proceeded to have sex with the man’s daughter on three occasions, which included drugging and blindfolding the girl while her father sat in the room.
Another man, Benjamin Simon Clarke, was sentenced to three years’ jail earlier this month for indecently abusing and taking naked and semi-naked photographs of the victim after her father answered an online ad Clarke had placed.
Clarke abused the girl while she was naked laying on a mattress after her father asked him whether he wanted to “do more” with her.
Mark Wesley Liggins was also charged as part of Operation Ripstop and was sentenced to more than two years behind bars in May.
He used an online chat forum to engage in sexual conversations and exchange nude photographs with children, but he was never charged with offences related to this particular victim.
Rather, Liggins had been in communication with the girl’s father, which led to his house being raided.
The four other men charged — Nicholas Adam Beer, Troy Phillip Milbourne, Alfred John Impicciatore and Ryan Trevor Clegg — are at various stages in the court process.
No comments:
Post a Comment