A teenager indecently assaulted by her brother-in-law has faced her perpetrator in court to tell the man she once trusted how he had forever changed her and her family's lives.
"I lost my girlhood and I want it back. I will never recover," the young victim said on Tuesday afternoon, when she read a victim impact statement through tears.
"I will never recover from this betrayal ... It has torn my family apart."
On Wednesday morning, the offender learned he would spend eight months behind bars for a crime described as "unrehearsed and impulsive".
He was not allowed to hug a lone ACT Magistrates Court supporter before being quickly taken into the cells less than a day after magistrate Glenn Theakston had warned of full-time custody.
'Particularly wicked'
"There was something particularly wicked about this event in that it involved exploiting and taking advantage of someone who was vulnerable," Mr Theakston said.
"He abused the hope everyone had for future relationships [in the family] and that was all for the purpose of sexual gratification."
The man previously admitted to a rolled up count of committing an act of indecency on a child and is not named to protect the identity of his victim, whom he met when she was nine.
In her impact statement to the court, the teenager explained how she had felt nothing but "prying eyes" on her since the assault and as she navigated the criminal justice system.
"Everyone is watching and judging. I feel dirty, tainted," she said, as the man sat with his head bowed.
"I don't know why this has happened to me."
'Trusted adult' to abuser
Before the sexual assault, the offender "performed the role of a trusted adult" and was effectively the victim's brother-in-law.
He was referred to as such in court despite not being married to the teenager's older sister.
The adult pair had been dating for more than a decade and regularly hosted the victim, who thought of them as parental figures.
"There was a significant relationship of trust between the two which gave the offender access to the victim and likely emboldened him," prosecutor Gretta Cuthel said.
According to facts of the case read out in court, the man was 31 when he approached the 15-year-old girl on the couch late one night at his home.
He closed the blinds, commented on the child's body, lay down behind her, groped her breast and buttocks, tried to undo her bra and slipped his hand inside her underwear.
The man's partner and child were asleep.
When he asked the victim if she liked it, she responded "no" and asked him to stop. While he did, the following day he again groped the girl after asking for a goodbye hug.
Sentence
Legal Aid lawyer Georgia Le Couteur said her client had expressed significant remorse and victim empathy, and acknowledged he took advantage of the child's trust.
The magistrate factored the man's disadvantaged upbringing into a sentence he said needed to reflect community expectations, deter him and others, and recognise harm done to the victim.
"Unfortunately, some adults need to be reminded they need to be responsible adults when dealing with children," Mr Theakston said.
The man is set to spend half of his 16-month jail term behind bars after the magistrate said a sentence entirely served in the community would not reflect his crime.
He was also given a 12-month good behaviour order and is set to be released from prison in June 2025.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732; Bravehearts 1800 272 831; Blue Knot Foundation 1300 657 380.
