By IANS,
Melbourne : A 33-year-old single father was Tuesday sentenced to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment for sexually abusing his 11-year-old daughter.
The man, who cannot be named, committed the crime between December 2008 and June 2009. He pleaded guilty to one count of incest and one count of causing serious injury.
The sexual assaults came to light after the man hit his four children with a belt trying to find out who had stolen three dollars from a change bowl, Australian news agency AAP reported.
The children went to school that day upset over the beatings and a teacher reported it to police who after interviewing the girl discovered that she was an incest victim, the Victorian County Court heard Tuesday.
“Your level of insight makes it difficult to see that you are completely contrite,” the judge said. “The message must be sent to the community that if you sexually abuse children, harsh punishment will follow”.