A TEENAGE girl was allegedly groomed, sexually and indecently assaulted and used in child abuse material by three members of the same family over a number of years, during which she was paid money to perform sexual acts.
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The three men were arrested last year after the State Crime Command's Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad established Strike Force Baria to investigate the alleged kidnapping, sexual and physical assault of a teenage girl between April 2016 and December 2018.
When the girl was aged between 13 and 15 she was in an unlawful "relationship" with one of the men, who was 20 years older, according to court documents.
During that period, the man's father - now in his 60s - also began sexually abusing the girl and paid her cash or gave her cigarettes to perform sexual acts in his car at Merewether Beach car park, Singleton Cemetery and Gunnedah Cemetery between 2016 and 2018.
The older man also had sex with the girl when she was 15 at car parks in Rutherford and Islington in 2017 and 2018, according to court documents.
The older man pleaded guilty to five counts of having sexual intercourse with a person aged between 14 and 16 after the DPP agreed to withdraw charges relating to child prostitution, kidnapping and assaults. He remains behind bars and will be sentenced in December.
The older man was "aware of the relationship between the victim and his son and also the victim's age", according to court documents.
"There was some overlap between the offending against the victim by this offender and when his son was in a relationship and offending against the victim," an agreed statement of facts says.
The older man's son, who was 33 when his "girlfriend" was 13, has pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including six counts of having sexual intercourse with a person aged between 14 and 16, grooming a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activity, possession of child abuse material and using a child over 14 years to make child abuse material.
He remains behind bars and will be sentenced in November. The older man's nephew has pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecently assaulting a person under the age of 16 and will face a trial in Newcastle District Court likely next year.
A fourth member of the extended family - a woman - had been charged, but her charges were dropped by prosecutors in July.
