Portland district sex offender appears in Melbourne County Court for plea hearing

The 76-year-old farmer appeared in the Melbourne County Court on Monday after being found guilty by a jury of two counts of sexual penetration of a child aged under 16 years and two counts of sexual assault of a child aged under 16 years.

The man cannot be named as that would identify the victim.

In mid June, as the four guilty verdicts were read out, the man produced a Snickers bar from his pocket while sitting in the dock, which he then started to eat.

When instructed by custody staff that he could not eat in court, the man continued to finish off the Snickers bar.

He then told the custody staff he had poisoned himself after lacing the chocolate bar with rat poison.

The man was remanded in custody after the verdicts and taken to the Warrnambool police station cells.

It's understood he soon after collapsed in the cells and broke a finger.

He was transported to Warrnambool Base Hospital where he was treated for poisoning.

He spent time recovering in the hospital's intensive care unit.

It's understood the amount of rat poison in the chocolate bar was not enough to be lethal.

The offending was disclosed to a doctor in 2000 but no action was taken by authorities.

The man has spent three months in custody so far and will be sentenced as a serious sexual offender.

Judge Anne Hassan said she would sentence the man at 9.15am on Friday.

Defence counsel Fraser Cameron said it was conceded an immediate total effective jail term and a parole period was appropriate.

He said his client had kidney and cardiac issues, previously having a triple bypass.

The victim said she had been molested between the age of five and 14.

Her father died when she was young and the offender, a neighbour, later partnered with her mother.

The girl's mother suffered significant mental health issues and the offender told the girl if she disclosed the abuse her mother would have to go back into hospital for care.

Crown prosecutor Fiona Martin described the offending as falling at the higher end of moral culpability, which she described as "brazen and arrogant".

She said the offending happened regularly, sometimes nightly.

In a forceful victim impact statement, the victim said he life had been ruined forever.

She said that as a sad little girl she often cried herself to sleep and people ignored what had been going on.

"I felt so alone during all these brutal assaults," she said, adding that she wanted to escape and felt like she was to blame.

The victim said she was forced to promise not to reveal what had been going on and that she wanted the man to be punished for the years he took away from her.

"He was a monster. He stole my soul and life," she said, explaining that flashbacks keep reappearing, chilling the victim to the bone and taking her breath away.

"The pain is still there and will forever remain. I have been tormented by your insanity.

"This will never end. There's nothing anyone can do. Between the ages of five and 14 he used his power and authority."

The victim said she had no way to escape the horrific abuse, she lived with constant fear and anxiety and still found it hard to sleep.

She always checks doors and windows are locked, struggles to put on a brave face and when being assaulted pretended she was asleep.

"There was no way to stop him. I felt like I was going to die," she said.

"I was agreeable and compliant as I wanted to be safe. I felt I could tell no one. His power over me felt unlimited. It (disclosure) was always on the tip of my tongue but I had no voice."

Even 30 years later the victim said she suffered depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.

"My reactions in certain situations is not normal," she said.

"I've lost count of the walks I've taken alone down streets after triggering events. I feel like I'm trying to escape my mind."

The woman described the abuse as being like slavery and that she was disposable to her abuser.

She said people could see her cuts or bruises, but there were also wounds on her heart and mind.

"The scars you can't see are the hardest to heal," she said.

"I want to live the life I deserve. I'm not a product of what happened to me. I know it was not my fault. I've never know life without abuse and have succeeded despite his actions.

"The impact of abuse has lasted a lifetime."

The maximum jail terms for sex penetration and sex assault of someone aged under 16 years is both 10 years' imprisonment.

The man will also be registered as a sex offender for life.

Judge Hassan noted the significant and devastating impact of the offending, who she said she would take into consideration in imposing a jail sentence on Friday.

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