Hutt man jailed for sexual abuse of daughters

The man was sentenced in the Wellington District Court today. Photo / File

A father who sexually abused his daughters and hit one of them across the knuckles with a hammer has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

One victim, now 17, described how her father would psychologically "torment" her when he did not get what he wanted, and said she began self-harming because of what he did to her.

The 42-year-old Hutt Valley man was found guilty in February of 11 charges including having an unlawful sexual connection, attempted rape, injuring with intent to injure and doing an indecent act on a child.

He cannot be named to protect the identity of his two victims.

His younger daughter read her victim impact statement out in the Wellington District Court this morning, saying the way the defendant treated her only started to sink in emotionally a couple of years ago - though he first sexually abused her when she was 5 years old.

She also described having to rely on the kindness of others for food and clothing.

"Us kids would go without food until it got bad," she said.

"Other parents would bring me lunch at school."

A woman who lived down the road and worked at the Warehouse would drop off clothes for her and her siblings.

The girl said she felt like her father's offending against her was her fault.

Her sister's victim impact statement said even seven years after the offending stopped she still felt "hopeless", and has been depressed and suicidal to the point of attempting suicide more than once, Judge Stephen Harrop said.

"I have no doubt that the full effects of what you did have still not yet been felt by your two daughters and will, one way or another, be with them for the rest of their lives," Judge Harrop told the man.

The man sexually abused the girls for years, and hit his older daughter's knuckles with a hammer when she tried to steal cigarettes.

He denies the offending.

A report provided to the court said the man experienced violence in the home when he went to live with his own father at the age of 14, but he was so distressed by witnessing violence against his stepmother he left home at 15 and lived on the streets for two years.

In 2013, his wife died after a short illness, leaving the man to care for their children alone.

But Crown prosecutor Sally Carter noted the offending began well before that time.

Defence lawyer Zachary Meehan said while many people have had to experience losing a family member, the court could not divorce what his client was going through from his state of mind at the time.

Judge Harrop pointed to aggravating factors such as the "gross breach of trust", the scale of the offending and the vulnerability of the victims.

He sentenced the man to six years and nine months in prison. The man has received a strike warning and will automatically go onto the child sex offenders register.