Bay man jailed for 'depraved' child sex crimes on infant daughter

A man facing 30 child sex charges had been jailed for at least 10 years. Photo / File

Warning: graphic content

A Bay of Plenty man who repeatedly raped his young daughter and shared similar offending online has been described as "depraved" and a high risk to the community after an "appalling" case of child sex crime.

The man, who has name suppression, was jailed after facing 30 charges ranging from knowingly making objectional material to rape of a child. The charges related to offences against his daughter, aged under 3 at the time.

The man appeared in the High Court at Rotorua yesterday and was sentenced to preventive detention with a minimum period of 10 years' imprisonment.

He stood in the dock with arms folded as the court heard how he attacked his daughter several times in different locations, including in their home and at a swimming pool. At a motel room, he dressed his daughter in BDSM gear, raped her and recorded the incident.

Justice Edwin Wylie described the man's actions as "appalling offending" and "depraved conduct".

"Each rape involved a significant degree of violence, certainly one of those rapes involved elements of sadomasochism.

"The victim was your daughter, being raised by you. That is a breach of trust at the highest conceivable level."

Justice Wylie said there would be significant harm yet to manifest in the girl's young life that will impact her future. There had been significant planning and premeditation.

"You had to have booked the motel room, you purchased the bondage equipment. Then you filmed the rapes."

The man was found in possession of more than 1000 images and videos of objectional material. Three-hundred-and-fifty-eight of these were classed as Category A - the most serious and usually involving rape, sadomasochism or animals.

The court heard the man shared 17 videos of objectional material with at least one other person via peer-to-peer sharing online.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the man's former partner said she was scared for the future and what their daughter may remember from his offending. The daughter had become quiet and secretive while the mother had become distrustful of people and began using anti-depressants. The family was also struggling financially.

The court heard the man had a more than 20-year history of possessing or viewing objectional material and had previously served 10 months in jail for it. However, the man did not receive treatment for his actions at the time, something he blamed authorities for during the investigation into his recent offending.

Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett asked the man be sentenced to preventive detention due to the nature of his offending, vulnerability of his victim, and lack of remorse.

Defence counsel Bill Nabney argued for a finite sentence, saying his client's guilty pleas should count.

Preventive detention is an indeterminate prison sentence in which if a person is released on parole, they remain managed by Corrections for the rest of their life and can be recalled to prison at any time.