A man who sexually abused two pre-teen girls has been sentenced to prison.
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The 51-year-old Dubbo man - who cannot be named to protect his victims - appeared at the District Court in Parramatta for sentencing over two counts of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.
The man, who still maintains his innocence, was found guilty of both counts after a trial at the District Court in Dubbo in December 2024.
The jury heard that the abuse started in 2021, soon after the girls and their mother moved into the man's home.
The girls told the court the man would get into bed with them when he was tucking them in at night and would digitally penetrate them and touch their breasts and genitals.
The older girl said she would try to move away but he would keep going.
She said what happened made her feel "scared and uncomfortable" and she was "disgusted" by it.
"It hurts for me to even think about what you did, and if I'm being completely honest you've ruined my life," she said in a statement read on her behalf at a sentencing hearing on March 14.
"If you really loved us, and were sorry about what you did, then you would have just told the truth."
Her abuse came to light when she was speaking to her friends at school about what happened. Concerned, they told the principal and deputy principal.
The deputy principal spoke to the girl and reported her claim to police on August 9, 2022.
During the investigation, officers interviewed the girl's younger sister. At first, she told them nothing happened to her, but she later disclosed she had also been touched by the man while he lay next to her in her bed.
She said she told her mother about what he did and she said, "he's just a deep sleeper".
Prison an 'extreme measure', man claims
Despite the guilty verdict, the man maintains his innocence.
He accepted there were occasions he got into bed with the girls and stroked their hips, back and chest but denied any sexual acts. He said he has a "deep regret" for any "distress, harm or consequences" caused by the situation.
"I made some choices and I have to stand by those choices," he told the court.
In letters of support, the man is described as "hard-working", "charitable", and "committed to the community".
He said his onerous conditions in prison were an "extreme measure" for someone who "hasn't done anything wrong".
Handing down her sentence, Judge Karen Robinson said, given the man's lack of prior record, he would be unlikely to re-offend and has good prospects of rehabilitation.
However, she said there would be no sentence appropriate other than full-time custody.
"The offender's conduct has had a real and ongoing impact on [both girls]," she said.
The man was convicted of both counts and sentenced to an aggregate term of 10 years in prison with a 6-year non-parole period.
Taking into account time already served, he will be eligible for release on December 9, 2030.
