A VIGILANTE father brutally bashed and stabbed a child abuser he believed had molested his daughter before leaving him naked in the bush to die, a court has heard.

The District Court heard the father slashed the Achilles tendons of the victim, who has confessed to child sexual abuse and is facing charges but may be mentally impaired.

He repeatedly stabbed the man in the neck, abdomen and chest during the horrific attack on October 1 last year — then dumped him in an isolated country location to die.

The father, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has pleaded guilty to one aggravated count of causing serious harm with intent over the incident.

In sentencing submissions on Tuesday, Judge Rosemary Davey said the father’s crimes were one of the most serious examples of “vigilante justice” to be brought before the courts but his actions could not be condoned.

“This is not a minor matter, it is a matter of public significance,” she said.

“Unfortunately there are many people who are victims of child sexual abuse or who assert (to be).

“It is vital to the security and to the safety of our community that vigilante justice cannot prevail (and) that the community understand that such acts as this will be taken most seriously.”

The court heard the Glandore father, 44, and a co-accused, picked up the victim from a house in Kilburn before driving to Tailem Bend and eventually Meningie in the search for an isolated spot to viciously attack him.

Judge Davey said she wanted further submissions from prosecutors over whether a petrol stop during the long drive was to refuel or to use as part of a plan to burn the victim.

The victim was taken to intensive care following the attack and was hospitalised for several weeks.

Judge Davey also advised the father’s lawyer, Kathryn Herriman, to consider whether her client should give evidence over a psychologist’s submission that the crime was a spontaneous reaction to learning his daughter may have been abused.

“The psychologist suggests, I’m not sure how this is her role, that in effect your client having just learnt that his daughter was sexually abused, lost self-control and committed these acts,” she said.

Judge Davey said she found that hard to accept when the father had driven for hours looking for an isolated spot before inflicting the horrific injuries.

“On the other hand is a situation of obvious anger and distress but careful premeditation of ritualised degradation and physical assault and abuse of the victim,” she said.

Ms Herriman told the court the father was not aware of the alleged sexual assault against his daughter until shortly before the offending.

Judge Davey relayed her concerns to prosecutors that a detailed report describing injuries suffered by the victim — who has declined to give an impact statement to the court — had not been tendered to her.

“I do not know whether it is because no one thought about this matter that much or that everyone thought that the victim does not matter here or just because it was overlooked,” she said.

The father will reappear in court for further sentencing submissions next week.