A father and mother who abused and raped their daughter over a 14-year period in NSW have been sentenced to at least 36 and 11 years in jail respectively.
The pair were convicted of abusing their daughter after a long trial in Sydney earlier this year. On Friday, Judge Huggett handed down the lengthy sentence for crimes which stem back to when the girl was in kindergarten, and continued until she was 19. The woman, now 24, made a police report in 2011.
Fairfax Media reported the girl was often locked overnight in a small box, made to stand on ants' nests, held underwater in a creek near the family's home in northern NSW, and hurt with scissors, spanners, nails and other tools. She was raped by her father over many years.
The court heard that the mother also sexually abused the daughter, including giving her advice about how to please her father.
"My father inflicted evil," the daughter told the court.
"He abused me in such ways that I thought I was going to die. My mother didn't stop him and did not protect me. My childhood was lost and I can never get it back."
The father was convicted of 73 child sex offences, and the mother of 13 counts of acting indecently.
"[The father] deliberately conditioned his daughter, using physical, emotional and psychological means to the point she would have come to expect he would abuse her as and when he wished," Judge Huggett said during sentencing.
"[He] completely disregarded and exploited his youngest daughter's vulnerability and powerlessness for his own motives."
The father will be eligible for parole in 2049, while the mother can apply in 2027.