Dad jailed for raping daughter after appeal

A NSW father who initially avoided jail for raping his daughter has been given a five-and-a-half year sentence after the Court of Appeal blamed the state's top prosecutor for the error.

The 55-year-old said that he was terrified of going to jail as he was taken from the courtroom directly to prison yesterday, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The father, who abused his daughter over a number of years, faced a maximum sentence of up to 20 years but the DPP never sought to have him jailed.

He was initially put on a good behaviour bond but the NSW Attorney General Greg Smith intervened after the Director of Public Prosecutions Llyod Babb refused to review the sentence.

"The DPP appears from the outset to have taken the view that (the father) should not be sentenced to full-time imprisonment," the three appeal court judges said.

"We consider the sentence imposed (in the District Court) was erroneously lenient and manifestly inadequate. No sentence other than ... full-time imprisonment is appropriate."

The DPP had agreed in Gosford Local Court that the father should receive treatment at the now defunct Cedar Cottage, where rehabilitation programs were run for incest offenders.

The attorney general said the original sentence was "totally inadequate".

The District Court judge who handed down the initial sentence said he wanted to imprison the man but was unable to.

The Court of Appeal said the crown prosecutor should have told the judge he was wrong but instead found that the lenient approach was "fostered and encouraged by the Crown".

Source: Daily Telegraph

Author: Martin Zavan, Approving editor: Matthew Henry