She was "dragged to bedrooms, tossed like a rag doll onto beds" and subject to sexual abuse numerous times, often in their home when the mother was away at work, the court heard. He refused the girl food when she did not cooperate and threatened to kill her family if she told anyone. Once when she refused to comply, he punched her in the face. When she was 10, the girl told her mother the man had been hurting her and they quickly separated. However, it was not until she was in high school that she revealed to her mother the full extent of his abuse and it was reported to police. "I am still discovering all the ways that the abuse I suffered has hurt me," the girl wrote in a victim impact statement. "It has set my life on the wrong course and destroyed the normal childhood, teenage years and early adulthood everyone deserves.

"All my life the smallest things such as making friends I never could do because of the constant fear of them seeing me how I see me." Meanwhile, the man had moved on to his next victim. He developed a relationship with and started living with another woman with two daughters, marrying her in 2010. He began to sexually abuse one of the daughters. Like his first victim, he told her he would kill her and her family if she said anything. In 2015, the girl started showing signs of being pregnant. The man and the mother divorced in January 2016 and in April that year, the girl gave birth. She was 16.

Two months later, she told her mother who the baby's father was. In her victim statement, she said the abuse had "changed and turned my whole life upside down". "I now face many challenges emotionally. These include not having self worth, never feeling good enough. "I haven't experienced a normal childhood because of this crime. I am now always in fear of people, mainly males, hurting me." Her mother wrote of the anguish she felt in realising who she had brought into her family. "The accused destroyed that strong confident, active girl I used to know."

Police interviewed the man in January 2017 about both his victims and charged him. "Quite remarkably", said the judge, he was granted bail. He fled to NSW and changed his name and appearance. When he was arrested there, he tried to escape custody before he was brought back to Victoria. In his sentencing, Judge Paul Higham said the man had betrayed the trust of his victims as a parental figure and turned their homes from a place of safety to a place where they were preyed on. "It is almost trite to describe such offending as a gross breach of trust," he said, speaking directly to the man. "Your offending constitutes a fundamental abuse of parental authority. "Your actions have deprived your victims of their childhood and they have left them emotionally scarred."

In denying the first girl food and threatening her if she did not comply, the man had taught her her body was something to be bartered with – "an act of true depravity". "You have demonstrated in my view little if any remorse. "You are a sustained persistent sexual predator and violator of children. You are a danger to women and their female children and the community needs protection from you. "The only appropriate sentence in your case is a substantial and lengthy prison sentence." The man was sentenced 18 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 14 years. He will also be placed on the registered sex offenders list.

Call the Kids Helpline phone counselling service on 1800 55 1800; 1800Respect: 1800 737 732 for family violence and sexual assault counselling, Men’s Referral Service: 1300 766 491, with live chat available; or Lifeline: 131114.