Moe incest case
The Moe incest case emerged in February 2007 when a woman, identified as M for legal reasons, reported to Victoria Police in the town of Moe, Victoria, Australia that her 63-year-old father, R S J, had raped,[1][2] physically abused, and kept her a virtual prisoner in her own home between 1977 and 2005.
Police had known about the alleged abuse since 2005, when M first came forward, but could not act because she did not want to cooperate after her father threatened violence against her mother and siblings.
The J family had been known to authorities for more than 30 years at the time the abuse came to light; three of R S J's six children with his wife have died, and others have spent time in state care. The allegations first emerged in a report released by News Limited, which said authorities had been warned of the man's activities years ago but had failed to investigate.[3]
During the years of abuse, M gave birth to four of her father's children, each in major Melbourne hospitals; one child, a girl, died from severe brain and respiratory developmental problems at eleven weeks of age, two of the surviving boys are seriously intellectually disabled, and the third boy has a major speech impediment and social interaction problems. None of the children had fathers listed on their birth certificates, raising concerns about why questions were not asked at the time. The victim's mother was unaware of any abuse, despite sharing a house with her daughter, husband and grandchildren until 2005.
M and her three surviving sons were taken into the care of the Victorian authorities. R S J was charged with 83 sexual abuse offences by police in June 2008 after DNA tests showed he was the father of M's children.
Sentencing
R S J appeared in court in November 2009, where he pleaded guilty to ten counts of incest, two counts of indecent assault of a girl under the age of 16, and one count of common assault, and asked for the remaining 70 counts against him to be taken into consideration.
During his sentencing in February 2010,[4] County Court Judge Susan Pullen said:[5]
"You defiled your daughter over many years on a regular basis. Your offending involved a gross breach of trust. To describe your treatment of your daughter as appalling is a gross understatement."
R S J was sentenced to 22 years and five months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 years, and will be placed on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life; with time in custody taken into account, he will be eligible for parole in February 2027 at the age of 84. The sentence is a Victorian record for incest.
His appeal against the sentence was dismissed on 29 June 2012. [6]
See also
References
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