A promising athlete who suffered 14 years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her parents has stood before them in court telling them their "putrid acts of torture" will haunt her forever but not break her.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, from the age of five to 18 was locked in a shed, spent nights in a tiny box, was raped, molested and mutilated, hit and threatened that she would be killed.
![Those who sat in on the 12-week trial have described it as the worst case of child abuse they have heard.](/web/20160926052842im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/o/o/u/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grmdrm.png/1474600764292.jpg)
On Thursday she stood before her abusers, her parents, in Sydney's District Court detailing how even though her life had been destroyed by their "evil" she had gone back to Tafe, finished Year 12 and was now putting herself through a degree at university.
Her parents were convicted over the abuse in July, with those who sat through the 12-week trial describing it as the worst case of child abuse they had heard.
The father was convicted of 73 child sex offences against his own daughter and the mother 13 counts of acting indecently towards her own child.
The father had also been the sporting coach of his children, who were promising athletes, quitting his job to help them achieve their sporting dreams.
In Thursday's sentencing hearing the daughter, and her sister, who was also abused, stood before both parents and delivered victim impact statements saying they wanted a "chance at closure and to start a new life".
Both parents, who were supported in court by another child, showed no emotion as two of their daughters read out their statements.
The daughter who suffered the most abuse told the court she will always remember her childhood as a "living hell". The girl was first raped by her father when her mother was in hospital giving birth to her sibling.
"My father inflicted evil," she told the court. "He abused me in such ways that I thought I was going to die. My mother didn't stop him and did not protect me. My childhood was lost and I can never get it back."
The woman said she has been unable to commit to a job, she sees a psychiatrist twice a week and still has many days where she "struggles to function … maintain normal daily activities".
"My focus, my goal throughout my childhood was to survive and to satisfy [my father's] needs so that he wasn't angry," she said. "If that meant [competing at sport] or pleasing him in sexual ways, that is what it meant.
"Now, on this day and every day for the rest of my life, I have to find some way to move on from his abuse."
The daughter has worked hard to put herself through university saying she still struggles with basic spelling and grammar because as a child "as long as my abusers were gratified my education was unimportant".
"Speaking out and telling the truth has given me strength and closure beyond words, but I will never forget. I will never live a day of my life where the abuse I suffered does not haunt me."
Her sister, who was also subjected to abuse from both parents said her mother should have intervened and removed her children from a world of sexual abuse and violence.
"While you own daughters were suffering the effects of continual abuse and dysfunction you lived in an absent fantasy land where you were the victim," she said. "It really was and continues to be all about you and how hard your life has been and how we walked away from you."
During the trial, the court was told how the the father would abuse the daughter in an old chicken coop on their northern NSW property – tying up her hands and leaving her inside the shed for up to three nights at a time.
She would not be fed, slept on the concrete floor and would miss school. The father would detain her by surrounding her with barbed wire and when she got older he would lock her in a tiny box that the family usually kept their sporting gear inside.
As he sexually and physically abused her would tell her "all I've ever wanted is to be a good father" and "I can do what I want to you. I own you".
When her siblings would ask their father where she was, he would tell them she was staying at a friend's house.
The mother and father will be sentenced by Judge Sarah Huggett in October.