Australian couple imprisoned for raping, torturing daughter for 14 years

London [UK], Oct. 28 (ANI): A father who raped, mutilated and tortured his young daughter over a 14-year period has been sentenced by a Sydney court to at least 36 years in jail, while the mother has been sentenced to a minimum of 11 years for her role in the couple's physical and psychological abuse of their daughter. The man, now 59, began abusing his youngest daughter in 1997, when she was just five years old, reports the Guardian. Much of the abuse was carried out in a dilapidated shed on the family property in rural New South Wales, where she would be held for up to three days, her wrists bound by rope. Her father, an elite athlete who had once qualified for the Olympics, served as her sporting coach and would threaten her with the "shed" if she did not perform well in competitions. The mother began teaching her daughter how to sexually arouse her father from the age of 8. This continued until 2011 when the young women, aged 19, made a full statement to the police. Her mother later told her to drop the complaints against her father, when there was an apprehended violence order against him, telling her it was "family business only". The man was taken into custody in October 2013. He was convicted of 73 charges by a jury in a harrowing 12-week trial earlier this year. Judge Sarah Huggett sentenced him to a total prison term of 48 years at Sydney's district court on Friday, with a minimum non-parole period of 36 years - a sentence she acknowledged may exceed the remainder of his natural life. His wife, now 51, was convicted of a further 13 counts, including indecent assault. Two involved another daughter. She was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 11 years. (ANI)