The Sunday Mail (Qld) 15 December 2002
By Melissa Ketchell (p36)
A mother who watched as her de facto husband raped her 11 year old daughter
has been sentenced to three years jail after pleading guilty to rape in the
Cairns District Court.
The woman, 33, who was in her mid 20s at the time of the attacks, was
released this week when Judge Peter White suspended the sentence after the
time she had already served in custody - 512 days.
Judge White said decent members of the community would be horrified at the
thought of a mother doing nothing while her de facto husband raped her
child.
He said the woman had been in an abusive relationship with her de facto
since she was 16 and a victim of domestic violence.
"No matter what degree of violence (her de facto) may have inflicted upon
her, and no matter what degree of violence she may have feared, her duty as
a mother required her to do something to protect her daughter, and she did
not", Judge White said.
The court heard the girl was raped in her mother's bed at Mareeba in 1994 or
1995.
The stepfather is serving 13 years' jail for attacks on the girl over
several years. As a result the girl had a child.
Judge White said while there was no excuse for the mother's failure to try
to protect her daughter, the climate of fear and violence in the household
must be taken into account when determining her sentence,
I accept that (the mother's) tolerance of (her de facto's) behaviour, in
this particular instance towards her daughter, occurred against that
background of violence," Judge White said.
He said the mother's guilty plea, although late, ad saved her daughter the
severe emotional trauma of giving evidence against her own mother.
Judge White said spending such a long time as a remand prisoner meant the
woman had missed out on rehabilitation programs, gradual release programs or
release-to-work programs which may have made her eligible for parole.