Custodial dad, step accused of sexually abusing, torturing two kids over two years; who gave this man custody? (Australia)

Typical Clueless Daddy defense. He was the victim of the step!


BS. Was she holding a gun to his head or something? Beating him up? Ridiculous.


More importantly, who gave this vicious abusive rapist father custody, and left the mother with periodic "access visits"?


UNNAMED DAD


http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/father-and-stepmother-of-boy-and-girl-stand-trial-accused-of-whipping-caging-tormenting-and-sexually-abusing-children-for-two-years/news-story/2bef266de29596e21e8c67a45e168c5a


Father and stepmother of boy and girl stand trial accused of whipping, caging, tormenting and sexual abuse for two years


Chief Court Reporter Sean Fewster, The Advertiser July 6, 2016 7:56am


TWO children were tied to trees, locked in cages, had their fingers slammed in car doors and whipped by a father and stepmother who recorded their suffering, a court has heard.


A District Court jury has been told the girl, now 9, and her brother, now 7, were also sexually abused by their father during years of torment on a remote regional property.


Amelia Cairney, prosecuting, told jurors they would see photographs taken, and recordings made, by the father and stepmother of the abuse they inflicted upon the children.


“The prosecution case is that, while living with the accused, the young lives of this girl and boy were tormented with regular, and often prolonged, acts of violence and neglect,” she said. “This ongoing abuse, along with sexual abuse, resulted in an environment of fear and degradation on the part of the children.”


The father and stepmother, who cannot be named, have pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of assault and false imprisonment.


The father has also denied sexually assaulting both children on multiple occasions.


Opening the trial, Ms Cairney said the children lived with their father and his partner on a rural property between 2011 and 2013.


She said that, when the children were not on access visits with their biological mother, the children suffered due to the stepmother’s “bad influence” on their father.


“The girl said the stepmother would get angry and say ‘do something to the girl’ or ‘do something to the boy’,” she said. “When the father slammed their fingers in the car door, the stepmother told him to do this ... after, the children were told to walk home.”


Ms Cairney said the girl would give evidence of nights spent locked in a birdcage and in the garage, and of being tied up and gagged while her father took photographs.


“(One day) the father said ‘you are going in the tree’ ... she said ‘no, please’ (but) he walked her to the tree, lifted her up and tied her to the tree by the neck with a rope,” she said. “She was not able to touch the ground and her hands and feet were tied as well ... he came back an hour later and said ‘have you learned your lesson?’.”


She said the boy would give evidence of being struck with a wooden bed slat, his father’s belt and being hit five times with a stock whip, leaving visible scars on his body.


“You will hear an audio recording, made by the father, of him tormenting and physically assaulting the boy,” she said. “A female voice can be heard in the background — the prosecution says that is the stepmother.”


The trial, before Judge Sophie David and a 14-member jury, is expected to run for three weeks.