DPP v Ingham

1. Tendered on the plea as Exhibit 1 was a 'Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea'.
2. In brief, the circumstances of your offending were as follows.
3. The victim is Phoebe Preston.[3] She is your biological daughter. She was born in November 1988. She was 13 years old at the time of the offending.
4. During the relevant period, you worked as a delivery truck driver for a transport company. Your job involved delivering meat or stockfeed across Melbourne and surrounding suburbs.
5. You drove a truck which had a front cabin containing a driver and passenger's seat and dashboard. Directly behind the seats, and covering the space to the back wall, was a small bed.

Indecent act where the accused placed the victim's hand on his penis

1. On an occasion when the victim was accompanying you on a delivery, you were on a bed in the truck, wearing a navy-blue singlet. Ms Preston was sitting in the front passenger seat. You pulled your underwear down to your thighs and held your erect penis. You told Ms Preston to come over and see what it felt like. She joined you and touched your penis with her hand.
2. You put your hand over hers and showed her what to do. This went on for a short period of time. Ms Preston then returned to the front passenger seat. During the trip, you checked in on Ms Preston, putting your hand on her knee and saying, 'you alright'. You told her that it was your secret, otherwise her mother would get angry at her.

Indecent act where the accused touched the victim's vagina

1. On a further trip when you were driving the truck and the victim was sitting in the passenger seat.
2. You reached across and touched her vagina. You commented that you liked it when she wore skirts.

Sexual penetration by introducing the accused's tongue and finger into the victim's vagina

1. On one occasion when Ms Preston was alone at home with you on a hot summer day, you took her into a garage area that you had converted into a bar. The lights were off and the sliding door was shut. There was bedding on the floor, along with the sleeping bag from the truck. This was not usually there.
2. You lit something and handed it to her to smoke. You told her it would make everything feel better. She coughed when she tried it. You also gave her a can of soft drink.
3. You touched her vagina and you performed oral sex on her.
4. You then told Ms Preston that you were going to put your fingers inside her vagina to make it easier. You penetrated her vagina with your fingers.
5. When your offending began happening at the home, you would leave money in a stubby holder in the bar. The stubby holder was on a shelf on the left-hand side of the fridge. Usually, Ms Preston would find a pile of coins, or occasionally a note.
6. You would say it was for keeping your secret.

Sexual penetration by introducing the accused penis into the victim's mouth

1. On one occasion, Ms Preston was again in the truck with you while you made deliveries. When it was dark, you laid on the bed in the truck with her. You had a pornographic magazine, which you were looking at, which showed a picture of a woman performing oral sex on a man.
2. You told Ms Preston it felt really good and told her to do the same thing and put your penis in her mouth. She got on all fours on the bed and performed oral sex on you, sucking your penis while holding it in her hand.
3. She recalls another occasion where she performed oral sex on you in the bar area.

Sexual penetration by introducing a vibrator into her vagina

1. You and your wife shared a bedroom inside the house, which had a gold four post bed with white mosquito netting and a gold tassel rope tying it to the bed.
2. There was shelving on the wall at the end of the bed, which had thick woollen pile pink carpet on the shelves. On the shelves was a TV. Above the TV were VSH tapes.
3. On one occasion, you and Ms Preston were in your bedroom.
4. A pornographic video was playing on the TV.
5. You licked her vagina.
6. You then brought out a vibrator. It was white with a clear middle, pearl beads in the middle, and a tickler part on the front. It was taken out of an antique chest of drawers on the right-hand side of the bedroom.
7. You used the vibrator on her, externally, then penetrated her vagina a small amount.
8. You explained to her that it could hurt sometimes.

Sexual penetration by introducing his penis into her vagina

1. On an occasion when you and Ms Preston were in your bedroom, you put on a pornographic movie. The movie involved male and female people engaging in penetrative sex in different positions.
2. Ms Preston was naked. You were wearing only your dressing-gown.
3. You asked Ms Preston if she wanted to do what was happening in the movie.
4. She licked and sucked your penis when you were kneeling on the bed. She was on her hands and knees. You also licked and sucked at her vagina while she was lying on her back, while you were kneeling on the bed.
5. You said you wanted to try some of the things in the movie and that it should not hurt.
6. Ms Preston was on the bed on her back, with a pillow underneath her. You were on top of her. You rubbed your penis against the outside of her vagina before slowly putting your penis inside her vagina repeatedly.

1. The last incident of any sexual activity occurred in the bar in the converted dairy. During the evening, you and Ms Preston were in the bar. She was sitting on a sofa. You were on your knees in front of her licking her vagina.
2. She heard the sound of someone walking outside, crunching the stones. She heard the sound of her mother's bangles hitting each other, and then the sound of her footwear. Ms Preston told you that her mother was approaching and you stood up. Ms Preston 's clothing was not fixed and her mother arrived and said, 'what the fuck is going on?' Ms Preston told her mother that you did not do anything. She remembers being scared. She argued with her mother.
3. After the last incident Ms Preston refused to engage in any further activity with you and your relationship deteriorated. Later, Ms Preston told her mother that she never wanted you to come home. In 2002, when Ms Preston was about 14 years old, you left the family home.
4. Ms Preston and her siblings continued to live with their mother. When she turned 18, she resumed infrequent contact with you. Ms Preston did not tell anyone about what had happened with you until 2022, but she thought about it frequently.
5. On 24 December 2022, Ms Preston and her husband, Zac Preston,[4] were smoking together after having put their children to bed. She told her husband that she wanted to tell him something. She then told her husband about being sexually abused by you.
6. In the new year, Ms Preston contacted police and reported the offending. In January 2023, she told her mother about the offending and that she had reported it to the police.
7. On 17 March 2023, Ms Preston recorded a phone conversation between herself and you.
8. In the call, you were asked about the incident of sexual activity that your wife saw. You did not deny the incident. When asked whether that was one of the reasons why you left, you agreed.
9. You were arrested on 21 May 2023 and interviewed by police.
10. During your interview, you made a number of admissions to police:

(a) You admitted to touching your daughter, but you could not remember the first time it happened.

(b) You were not sure how it started. You said it started as 'just cuddling' and 'one thing led to another'. You described it as 'normal touching' then admitted it was touching to the vagina.

(c) When pushed for details on specific incidents, you said 'Honestly, I think I just don't wanna remember any more'.

(d) You initially told police it had happened 'maybe once or twice', then later said the touching happened 'roughly three or four times'.

(e) You detailed that there was a time out in the bar, when you had been drinking. When asked about what happened you said you do not really remember back that far.

(f) You did recall that you and your daughter were laying on the bed and playing, petting, and touching. You admitted you were touching your daughter's vagina while her pants were pulled down and she did not have underwear on. You heard your wife approaching and Ms Preston panicked. You said you were 'caught out' by your wife.

(g) You could not detail what else had occurred but said 'maybe when we were out in the truck, I don't remember'. When asked about what may have happened in the truck, you said it would have been the same as what happened in the bar, but that you just did not get caught. You also said it may have been 'just the same thing, petting, touching and cuddling'.

(h) You acknowledged that it 'should never have happened' and you will never forgive yourself for it. You told police you knew you had done wrong and you had to leave. You said you knew it would catch up with you one day.

1. You denied that you had ever penetrated your victim.

1. I turn now to your personal circumstances and in doing so, I rely upon submissions made on your behalf by your counsel and materials tendered at your plea hearing.
2. You were born in February 1950 in New Zealand and you are 75 years old.
3. You are the third child to a siblingship of eight. Both your parents are deceased.
4. Your mother was a stay-at-home parent and your father worked as a railroad guard. While you grew up in a strict environment, you report always feeling supported and nurtured by your parents.
5. You have never been close to your siblings, and you have always had a conflicted relationship. The last contact with your siblings was on your 60th birthday, so some 15 years ago.
6. You left the family home at the age of 18 and moved to Australia in your thirties. You maintained limited contact with your parents after leaving New Zealand.
7. You have had four significant intimate relationships. You have been in a 23 year relationship with Alice Martin.[5] You report that she is your current partner. You report she remains supportive, although she is not aware of the full extent of the sexual contact charged and she is not aware of the penetrative acts.
8. You are extremely socially isolated and report having only one friend, your step-child's partner.
9. You left school at the age of 14 to assist your family financially.
10. You have worked at a sawmill as a truck driver, consistently until the age of 60 when you had a truck accident for which you were hospitalised for two to three weeks.
11. You deny any history of mental health difficulties.
12. You report that your use of alcohol was problematic during your first marriage.
13. You have significant health issues. You had a double bypass at St Vincent's Hospital in February 2025 after a series of heart attacks in 2024. In April 2025, you had surgery and the insertion of a pacemaker.
14. You are also a patient of the St Vincent's Renal Outpatient Clinic, for chronic renal failure and you have type II Diabetes (requiring insulin).
15. You also have angina, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, and chronic obstructive airway disease.
16. You have no prior criminal history.

1. Ms Strugnell who appeared on your behalf, submitted your offending was serious and required a term of imprisonment. She accepted that your offending was characterised by the following aggravating features:

(a) The victim, is your biological daughter;

(b) Your offending involves a gross breach of trust;

(c) Your offending occurred in the family home and in your work vehicle, environments where your daughter was entitled to feel safe;

(d) At the time of your offending, you were 51 and your daughter was only 13-14 years of age;

(e) There was a significant vulnerability on the part of the victim;

(f) The sexual conduct encompassed at least five acts of sexual penetration (which included penile, oral and digital penetration);

(g) The offending occurred over a period of 18 months; and

(h) There were entreaties to secrecy in the payment of money.

1. Ms Strugnell submitted that it is accepted that there was no evidence of remorse aside from your guilty plea.
2. While Ms Strugnell accepted that a term of imprisonment is warranted, she relied upon the following mitigating factors:

(a) You are not an Australian citizen and upon conviction for a sexual offence against a child with a sentence of a term of imprisonment, your visa will be cancelled. You will be deported to New Zealand once you have served your sentence. Ms Strugnell submitted it is unclear whether your current partner is aware of your risk of deportation. It is also unlikely that you will be eligible for parole.

(b) You are isolated and have no recent contact with your family in Australia or New Zealand.

(c) Your age and your medical conditions will make gaol more burdensome for you than a person in good health. You have significant health issues that have been set out, I have set out in your personal circumstances, and you are currently prescribed 12 separate medications.

1. Mr Pirrie on behalf of the prosecution submitted that a head sentence with a non-parole period is required. He submitted that the offending involved a gross breach of trust against your own daughter. There was also unprotected penetration, and the offences were of a persistent nature.
2. Mr Pirrie submitted that you have had ample opportunity to reflect on your acts, and you appear to have failed to do so.
3. It was submitted that the victim was subjected to extensive cross-examination at the committal which has caused her significant distress.
4. Mr Pirrie relied upon the following aggravating factors:

(a) The significant age difference.

(b) That the offending was both planned and opportunistic.

(c) You were living with the victim and she was entitled to feel safe in her own home.

(d) There were various forms of penetration; and

(e) That you exposed your daughter to pornographic material and your offending involved financial inducement.

1. Ms Preston has made a Victim Impact Statement which was read by her in court. In her statement, she describes your face as the face of her biggest fears and the face that still wakes her up in the middle of the night screaming and kicking. She says she still lives in the body of a terrified, sad and powerless little girl.
2. She describes that as a child she feared you and she remembers being constantly on guard and that she was living in a space where the fear of what you would do or what you said would happen if she spoke up drove her to comply with your requests.
3. She says that she feels like she cannot trust anyone because of your offending and that it has impacted on all her relationships, and that there are still challenges around this with her husband, Zac Preston.
4. She says her children also had to experience the effects of your offending and that she constantly believes she is not good enough. She explains that she has had to go through extensive counselling including with her husband.
5. She says that she has been taken advantage of sexually and consented to things that she did not want to do, because she was submissive to demands, because that is what became embedded in her as a child. She says you created a feeling of fear in saying no to these acts.
6. Ms Preston explains that she did not understand why it happened and that she just wanted to be 'normal'. She says her family and social life has been an absolute mess and that when she was younger, she drank to ease her thoughts and to be able to enjoy herself. She says she has progressively withdrawn from social events unless her husband accompanies her.
7. She describes that her husband cannot attend social events without her because it causes her to spiral into an abyss of anxiety and distrust.
8. Ms Preston explains that she was unable to talk to her mother about the offending because your voice took over and that she built resentment until she was able to comprehend that her mother had been unable to protect her over something she did not know about.
9. She also says that the money you left for her after the incidents led her to become used to having money and when she did not she would steal from her mother's purse. Later, she says she had financial difficulties, loans she could not repay and that she was drowning in debt because of those habits you planted into her head as a child.
10. Ms Preston says that she has had relationship counselling, personal counselling, work counselling and she has experienced severe episodes of depression including post-natal depression. She says she has been forced to engage in the graphic details of your offending throughout the legal process and this is something she has tried to avoid for more than 25 years.
11. She says that you forever damaged her childhood and you have caused her a lifetime of pain that she can never escape from. She says you never were or never will be her father, as her father would not have done what you have done.
12. Mr Zac Preston, the victim's husband, also made a Victim Impact Statement that he read in court. He describes that his wife disclosed the abuse you have inflicted upon her on Christmas Eve in 2022 and what should have been a happy for their family was the start of three years of turmoil, interrupted sleep and tears. Mr Preston describes that it has been excruciating to witness Ms Preston going through shame, pain and anger during the past three years.
13. He says that the offending has caused him to worry more than ever about who spends time with his children. He says he cannot articulate how abhorrent it was to hear about the offending and that it has stuck with him and has caused him to reevaluate his career.
14. Mr Preston also describes how difficult the committal process was on his wife and how greatly it impacted on her. He says that Ms Preston would flinch in her sleep and wake up distraught. The episodes would intensify when the court dates approached or after meeting with the police. He says she does not feel comfortable alone and the night time episodes have resulted in Mr Preston declining invitations he would have enjoyed attending.
15. Ms Bianca Badcoe,[6] the mother of the victim, made a Victim Impact Statement that was read in court by Mr Pirrie. She describes that she will never forget the disclosure made by her daughter over the phone. She says that she was absolutely devastated that her daughter had gone through so much abuse from the very person that was supposed to protect her.
16. She describes that she feels that she has failed as a mother and that it has shattered her confidence in her ability as a mother.

1. I regard your offending as a very serious example of sexual offending against a child. In the first place your victim was your daughter. Your offending involves a breach of trust at the most fundamental level and of the most fundamental kind. You were Ms Preston's father and your role was to protect and nurture your child and not to exploit her for your depraved sexual gratification.
2. Secondly, your conduct involves incidents of highly invasive penetrative sex.
3. Thirdly you showed your daughter pornography.
4. Fourthly there was an occasion when you used a vibrator.
5. Fithfly you paid your daughter money in an attempt to maintain her silence and acquiescence.
6. Sixthly when you penetrated your daughter with your penis, you did not use a condom, exposing her to disease and the risk of pregnancy.
7. Seventhly, your offending last some 18 months.
8. Your offending was degrading, corrupting and humiliating for your young daughter.
9. Your offending has caused your daughter profound and ongoing harm which she has articulated so excruciatingly in her victim impact statement.

1. The predominant sentencing considerations in cases involving the sexual abuse of children are general deterrence and denunciation. The sentence I impose must send a clear message that the sexual abuse of children will not be tolerated by the courts and on behalf of the community I must denounce your conduct. A father sexually abusing his own child is morally depraved conduct which as has been stated in these reasons, has profoundly damaging consequences for the victim.
2. You have pleaded guilty and will receive an appropriate mitigatory discount. Your plea has saved your victim the further trauma of a trial and has saved the community the expense of a trial. You have acknowledged your criminal responsibility, and I accept there is some remorse implicit in your plea, but I stop short of finding that you have shown full and insightful remorse. You minimised your conduct in your police record of interview, and there was a contested committal at which Ms Preston was cross-examined.
3. Prison will be a very difficult place for you given your age and your health issues and I take into account that you will be spending some of the last years of your life in custody.
4. The prospect of deportation is of real significance in your case. You are now 75 years old and you have not lived in New Zealand since your thirties. You have no real family or contacts there. The prospect of deportation constitutes a form of extra-curial punishment, and any time in custody will be more burdensome given your anxiety over your future.
5. Although the prospect that you will be deported carries real weight in the sentencing discretion it does not permit me to craft a sentence in order to avoid the operation of the Migration Act.[7]
6. Given your age it is unlikely you will reoffend. I assess your prospects of rehabilitation as good.
7. Taking into account all the matters I am required to under the Sentencing Act[8] and matters personal to you I intend to sentence you as follows. You can remain seated in the circumstances, Mr Ingham.
8. On Charge 1, maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 11 years.
9. That makes a total effective sentence of 11 years. I am directing that you must serve a period of 7 years before you are eligible for parole.
10. Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act,[9] had you pleaded not guilty, you would have been sentenced to a total effective sentence of 14 years with a non-parole period of 10 years.
11. Pursuant to s 18(4) of the Sentencing Act,[10] I declare that you have served nine days of the sentence I have passed upon you and I direct this be entered into the records of the court.
12. Charge 1 on the indictment is a Charge 1 offence, pursuant to the Sex Offenders Registration Act[11] and you are therefore a registered sex offender for life.

[2] Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) s 47A(1).

[7] Migration Act 1958 (Cth).

[8] Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic).

[9] Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 6AAA.

[10] Ibid s 18(4).

[11] Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 (Vic).