A WOMAN has been forced to pay thousands in alimony to her ex-husband who was convicted of raping her daughter.

California woman Carol Abar married Ed Abar in 1991, when her daughter was nine years old. He repeatedly raped and abused the girl for 16 years before she told her mother and the couple divorced, the daughter told CBS2 in Los Angeles.

“He had threatened me that he would kill my mom, he would kill my stepbrothers, he would kill me,” the daughter - who wishes to remain anonymous, said.

Mrs Abar was forced to pay alimony of $US1300 ($1266) a month to her ex, since she made more money than he did. In California, spousal abuse is taken into consideration when deciding alimony, but child abuse is not.

"He victimised a little girl all these years and I have to pay for that behaviour. It just doesn’t make sense," said Mrs Abar.

"Every time I wrote that cheque I cried, because I felt like I was paying the man that raped my daughter."

"The judge told me I had no proof. It was my word against him,” she said. “He had been raping her since she was little. Since I got married to him.”

She paid a total of $US22,000 until last year, when Abar pleaded guilty to one of the rape charges and went to jail for more than a year. The judge stopped the alimony payments temporarily while Abar was behind bars.

He’s now out of jail and has filed to get spousal support again – as well as what he claims is $US33,000 in past due amounts, despite being a registered sex offender.

“It hurts me. I still feel like I’m being victimised”, said the daughter.

