This article relates very well to Bait. It deals with the sentencing of a stepfather who abused his 2 stepdaughters. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison. A psychiatric report revealed that the man had also suffered from sexual abuse as a child. This relates to Bait because it connects with a central conflict that Diego faces, "What if he was to turn out like Mac?".

Stepfather jailed for 11 years for sex abuse

DAVID CLARKSON

Last updated 16:49 07/10/2011

A man has been jailed for 11 years - three years longer than the period of sexual abuse he inflicted on his two young stepdaughters.

The mother of the victims yelled abuse from the public seats at the Rangiora Courthouse as the 40-year-old was led away to begin his sentence.

A psychiatric report before the court said the man had been physically and sexually abused as a child.

It said he now tried to minimize the severity of the abuse against the girls, and his responsibility for it and the harm it had caused, and put the blame on the victims.

"The offending involved a breach of trust and occurred in the confines of the family home - the very place where children should feel safe," Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar told the offender.

The man cannot be named because of the family relationship. The girls were aged seven and nine when the eight years of offending began.

The man had admitted six charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, one of attempted sexual violation, two of doing an indecent act on a girl aged under 12, and one involving a girl aged 12 to 16 years, one of doing an indecent act with a dependent family member, and two of indecently assaulting a girl under 12.

He also admitted two assaults with intent to injure and one assault.

Ten of the charges were representative.

Judge Kellar said the immeasurable harm done to the victims "will undoubtedly adversely affect their lives and their ability to relate to others and form healthy relationships".

"Make no mistake, the effect on the victims will be permanent," he told the man before imposing the jail term and a non-parole term of five years.

The man was seen as a high risk of reoffending.

Defence counsel Tim Fournier had argued that a non-parole term should not be imposed so that the man could get treatment programmes to deal with his underlying problems as quickly as possible.

Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier said the man's remorse was questionable. He had a strong awareness that his behaviour was wrong but had been unable to stop until the offending was disclosed by the younger victim.

Judge Kellar said the psychiatrist's report described childhood physical and sexual abuse against the man, which had "damaged his ability to relate to others in a healthy manner and impaired his self-identity, and his ability to form relationships and self-regulate emotional distress".

The man has a history as a violent offender and has been serving a term of imprisonment. He has prior convictions for drug offending, but none for sex offenses.

The disclosure of the sex offending was made when he was due for his parole to be considered and has prevented his release.

- The Press