Warning: This story contains graphic details that readers may find disturbing.
An eight-year-old girl was denied food by her stepfather unless she performed sexual acts with him, a Launceston Supreme Court has heard.
The 48-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was sentenced to 12 years in jail.
The court heard the abuse happened repeatedly over a four-and-a-half-year period between 2013 and 2017.
"This is a case of persistent sexual abuse of a child," Justice Robert Pearce said.
"She was forced to commit sexual acts in exchange for food and forced to look at pornography.
"The victim is now 17 years old and the impact of this will be life long, both psychologically and physically."
The man began a relationship with the victim's mother when the child was three or four years old, and he assumed the role of a father figure, the court heard.
When that relationship ended, she and her brother would spend every second weekend at the man's house, which the court heard was when the abuse occurred.
"You wedged the door shut so her brother wouldn't come in," Justice Pearce said.
"There is hardly a greater example of an abuse of truth.
"She believes you robbed her of her childhood."
The victim reported the abuse to her mother when she was 11 years old in 2017.
In 2019, the man fled Tasmania and was arrested several years later after hiding in Broome, Western Australia.
"You were then extradited to Tasmania in August 2022 and have been in custody since," Justice Pearce said.
The court heard that he too was a victim of child sexual abuse.
"The cruel irony of this is that you inflicted the same trauma on her that you had suffered yourself," Justice Pearce said.
The man will be eligible to apply for parole after serving eight years.
