AUSTRALIA -- An Adelaide man who committed "gross and disturbing" sex offences against children and animals confessed his crimes to his wife, a court has heard.
The District Court heard the man in his 20s, whom the ABC is not identifying to protect the identity of his victims, voluntarily confessed all his crimes to his former wife, then to police.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of bestiality, one count of persistent sexual exploitation of a child and one aggravated count of indecent assault.
The court heard the child victims were his step-daughter, aged between nine and 11 at the time of the offending, and his biological daughter, then aged three.
It heard he committed most of the sexual acts against his step-daughter while she was asleep.
The man also committed penetrative sex acts with chickens and attempted penetrative sex acts with the family dog, the court heard.
'Unnatural, gross and disturbing': judge
Judge Paul Muscat said the offending was serious and "unnatural".
"The abuse you admitted to was gross and disturbing," Judge Muscat said.
Judge Muscat said he gave the man credit for his voluntary confessions to crimes that may otherwise have not been uncovered, as well as his dedication to rehabilitation.
"You claimed that you made those disclosures to your wife as an initial way of confronting and addressing your abnormal sexual behavior," Judge Muscat said.
"You have not attempted to minimize or downplay the gravity of your conduct or the devastating effect it has had or will continue to have on your family."
Judge Muscat said the man's willingness to undergo treatment was encouraging.
"You appear determined and motivated to engage in treatment and address your abhorrent and abnormal sexual behaviors, which is imperative in order to reduce your risk of further sexual offending," he said
Sexual deviancy began when he was a child
The court heard the man had an unconventional childhood and suffered abuse as a child, and also had sexual contact with dogs as a child and began to feel "aroused by the wrongfulness of his sexual behavior".
The man's ex-wife wrote in her victim impact statement that "we didn't do anything wrong; my beautiful innocent children certainly never ever deserved to have such terrible violation occur on their bodies and hearts".
Judge Muscat said: "You accept that what you did was disgraceful and has totally destroyed your family."
He sentenced the man to six years and seven months' jail with a non-parole period of three-and-a-half years, backdated to December 2015 when he was taken into custody.
"If the sentence imposed on you seems to some to be moderate then that is the product of your voluntary confessions and the healthy sentencing discounts which apply," Judge Muscat said.
"Offenders should be encouraged to come clean and accept full responsibility for their criminal actions and then take steps to address the issues which led to their offending, as you have done."
(ABC AU - Oct 11, 2016)
