EXCLUSIVE
A former military bomb disposal expert has been ordered to pay more than $1.3 million in damages after sexually abusing his stepdaughter for three years.
The decorated Royal Australian Air Force squadron leader was arrested in Sydney in November 2015 after abusing the girl, *AJ, when she was aged between 12 and 15.
A court heard how he ordered her to perform sexual acts via Skype calls while he was on duty overseas and, when she was at home, raped her at night as she lay next to her sleeping mother.
“My father, the man I had complete trust in, took away all my firsts, stole my childhood,” his stepdaughter told the court in her victim impact statement.
“I hate what happened to me. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
The long-serving veteran, known only as KM for legal reasons, was sentenced to 17 years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to 245 charges in August 2018.
He was given a minimum non-parole prison sentence of 11 years and six months and could be released from prison in early 2030.
Now his family has successfully sued him over the sickening attacks, and a judge has ordered him to pay his victim $952,336.05 and another $407,214.87 to his ex-wife.
A former soldier (pictured) has pleaded guilty to 24 charges after sexually abusing his stepdaughter.
District Court Judge William Fitzsimmons heard that the serviceman, who served several tours of duty in the Middle East, helped raise the girl from the age of four, when he began dating her mother, *TM.
The couple married the following year, in May 2006, and a month after the wedding they had a son.
According to court documents, KM played an “active role” in raising AJ and his brother, supporting the talented young athlete in her sporting activities, which included netball, touch football and cross country.
However, he went from father to predator in 2013 when he began sexually abusing AJ through her clothing after she turned 12 and started high school.
From July to December of that year, KM was deployed to Afghanistan, but his crimes continued.
The twisted abuser even ordered his stepdaughter to perform sexual acts for him via Skype calls while he was serving overseas.
Once she returned home, KM continued to abuse her by demanding oral sex in the family living room.
He also secretly abused her when she slept next to him and his mother in her parents’ bed at night because she was afraid of the dark.
The vile abuse escalated further when she turned 14 and KM began raping her once a week if her mother left the house for a night or when they were on family vacations.
In the 18 months leading up to early 2015, AJ estimated she had been raped between 30 and 50 times.
His vicious abuse finally came to light during a family argument in October 2015, when KM lashed out after learning that AJ had been engaging in sexual activity with a child.
He grounded her for the rest of the year and called her an “imbecile.”
Outraged by the insult, AJ responded: “It’s nothing more than what you’ve done to me before.”
According to court documents, AJ’s mother appeared shocked when KM began pacing the room, before admitting his crimes and apologizing for what he had done.
He has been ordered to pay more than $1.3 million to his victim and her mother.
The abuse was reported to police the following month and KM was arrested shortly after.
In an affidavit, the victim said she has experienced feelings of “shame, embarrassment and disgust,” low self-esteem and suicidal ideation since the abuse.
She said she was too young to understand that what was happening to her was wrong and that she thought her behavior was simply “something men do to women.”
He now struggles with a “lack of trust in people” and a number of physical and mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, seizures, PTSD and dissociative memory lapses.
“I am a young girl who has trouble trusting and is extremely insecure,” she said in her victim statement.
‘Abuse has affected me in every way, shape and form possible.
‘I’ll never be able to escape it. It’s affected my family life, my social life, my work life, my wellbeing, my mental and physical health and my general outlook on life.
“No one I know can understand what I’ve been through. When you’re a teenager, all you want to do is fit in. I’ll never know my true destiny.
‘My path changed forever thanks to my father, one of the people I trusted the most in my life, now the monster in my mind…’
AJ and TM filed civil lawsuits against KM after he pleaded guilty to 24 sexual assault-related offenses in total.
At the TM hearing, it was revealed that at the time of the abuse, the mother of four was supporting (and at the time grieving) her terminally ill mother who died in early 2015.
She now continues to feel intense guilt for not having protected her daughter, as well as panic attacks and depression.
In his ruling earlier this month, Judge Fitzsimmons said the abuse had seriously affected both the women’s lives and their relationships with others.
Compensation is comprised of general damages, treatment costs, and past and future economic losses related to the mental and physical impacts caused by KM’s actions.
*Names changed for legal reasons.
For confidential support 24/7, contact Lifeline at 13 11 14 or 1800 RESPECT