A father has been found guilty of sexually assaulting his teenage daughter and threatening to kill his son following a two-week trial.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was facing 10 charges in the ACT Supreme Court involving three of his children.
After about three days of deliberation, the jury returned its first guilty verdicts on Thursday, September 3, to one count of sexual intercourse with a child under 16 and one count of committing an act of indecency on a child under 16.
Both charges relate to offences committed against his daughter in a bedroom, where the court heard he warned her to stay silent before sexually assaulting her.
The father put his head back and sighed as the first verdict was read.
After asking Justice Belinda Baker for more time to deliberate on the remaining eight charges, the jury returned on Friday with further guilty verdicts for committing an act of indecency against the same daughter in a car, and threatening to kill his son.
Jurors were unable to reach a decision on the remaining six charges, which included four counts of committing an act of indecency against his son, one count of sexually assaulting him while the boy was under 10, and one count of indecently touching his second daughter.
"Members of the jury, I do thank you for the care and the obvious diligence with which you have approached this task," Justice Baker said before discharging them.
During the trial, which began on Monday, August 17, Crown prosecutor Amanda Mifsud said the children gave honest statements to police and argued the father's alleged actions "were not accidental".
"It was deliberate conduct that occurred over years," she said.
However, the father's defence barrister James Walker said this trial was about "three children who have made allegations that are not supported by any objective evidence".
"It is about allegations made to police by complainants who hate or despise [their father]," said.
The man will be sentenced at a later date.
