A man charged with sexually assaulting a four year-old girl on more than 20 occasions until she was seven at Casino allegedly offered his victims a $5000 bribe to stay silent.
The former Casino resident, who can’t be named for legal reasons, entered guilty pleas to 13 of 32 charges in Lismore Local Court this week that stem from alleged incidents in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
It is alleged between October 1977 and March 1981, the man sexually assaulted two sisters on multiple occasions, in a shed on his property.
At the time of the alleged incidents, the man was in his 20’s when his victims were aged four and eight.
The man knew the sisters as their families were both members of the same church.
The court heard during one of the alleged incidents, when the man was interrupted by the girl’s mother, he claimed he wasn’t doing anything sinister.
Police facts before the court revealed one of the victims told family about the abuse in 1995.
The following year, the family met with the man to discuss the alleged incidents.
During this meeting it is alleged the man offered each of the girls $5000 if they didn’t contact police.
When one of the victims reported the matters to Queensland police at the time, she claimed she was told there wasn’t enough evidence to launch an investigation.
In 2011, 15 years after she tried to report the incidents, the victim provided Queensland police with a statement about the incidents, allegedly committed against her in Queensland and NSW.
In July 2015 the victim was interviewed by Queensland police, and in September she was spoken to by Casino detectives.
The man was charged after police allege the man made partial admissions to the crimes in the interviews.
He has previously been convicted and jailed of sexual offences committed against his daughter in Queensland, where his family relocated to in 1981.
After entering the guilty pleas, Magistrate David Heilpern committed the man to be sentenced in the District Court.
His matters were listed for mention in Lismore District Court on February 12.
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