Man jailed for sexual abuse of girl

A man has been jailed for a decade for sexually abusing and putting a four-year-old girl in explicit positions and photographing her.

Troy George Palenski was sentenced to 10 years’ jail in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday, after earlier pleading guilty to a raft of charges including two of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, four of sexual conduct with a child under 12, one of rape and five of knowingly making objectionable publications, including films, and three of possession of objectionable material.

Palenski was 26 when he began abusing the girl, then aged four.

The court heard how while alone with the girl, Palenski performed several sexual acts on the four-year-old. He positioned her in various sexualised and degrading positions while she was only wearing a t-shirt before photographing her on his mobile phone.

A number of objectionable publications were made including one video lasting more than a minute, which were stored on a computer.

Police executed a search warrant at Palenski’s home and seized a hard drive. A forensic examination of the hard drive uncovered sub-folders containing 77,000 pictures and 19,000 videos.

The files were assessed against a regularly updated database of child exploitation material which returned more than 7000 matches for objectionable publications.

Some included images of ‘‘prepubescent’’ youngsters engaging in sexual intercourse originating from the United States, Russia and Germany.

Justice Geoffrey Venning said Palenski’s offending had destroyed the lives of not only the victim but her wider family.

The damage was ‘‘incalculable’’, he said, and it was impossible to tell what long term effects it will have.

The girl, now aged six, suffers from nightmares, has ongoing behavioural issues and will need counselling for sometime, the court heard.

Crown solicitor Jacinda Hamilton said it was difficult to see a nexus between Palenski’s mental health issues, which state in a doctor’s report that Palenski was suffering from ‘‘low mood’’, and his offending. He told doctors he could not recall the offending.

‘‘This is offending that occurred on a number of occasions over a lengthy period and there’s no indication of a medical reason for a loss of memory.

‘‘At this stage there is little insight to the cause of his offending and little insight into the impact of his offending and, to an extent, ownership.’’

Hamilton said it was necessary to recognise the seriousness of the offending by applying a minimum non-parole period, although she acknowledged prospects for rehabilitation impacted on that.

Lawyer Truc Tran acknowledged the victim’s family and the impact it has had on them. He said Palenski had accepted responsibility and had written a letter of apology, although that was in no way meant to minimise the impact.

‘‘I don’t think anything Palenski can do will lessen the impact.’’

He said Palenski suffered from dyslexia and learning difficulties, experiencing bullying, which in some ways had impacted on him, causing low mood, depression and suicidal thoughts in his 20s.

There were encouraging signs for rehabilitation.

Palenski wants treatment and has taken it upon himself to see a counsellor.

Justice Venning began sentencing at 13 years imprisonment on the rape charge. Taking into account totality, he gave an uplift on the further charges to reach an aggregated total of 15 years imprisonment.

He noted the letter of remorse offered some insight into the offending and gave a five per cent discount for remorse and prospects of rehabilitation, provided he sought treatment.

Justice Venning allowed full discount for an early guilty plea, which saved the stress of defended hearings, but did not give any credit for good character saying Palenski was 26 at the time and the offending was repetitive.

He then sentenced Palenski to 10 years’ jail but did not impose a minimum non-parole period, leaving it to the parole board to assess Palenski’s release.