A 24-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed for nine years after sexually assaulting a girl in Wagga.
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Joel Kershaw, of Corowa, appeared in Wagga District Court on April 5 for sentencing in relation to two counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 years of age.
The two charges, to which Kershaw pleaded guilty, related to separate acts of intercourse that occurred during the one incident.
Documents tendered to the court state the offending happened in November 2017 after a friend, who was in a casual intimate relationship with the victim's mother, invited Kershaw over to a house.
Throughout the afternoon and early evening the trio drank vodka, with the court hearing Kershaw was responsible for drinking the bulk of it.
That night, the victim went to bed in her own room, her mother and the friend in the main bedroom, and Kershaw in the lounge room.
At some stage during the evening, the victim's mother heard the victim cry, which caused her to get up to investigate.
She found Kershaw hiding behind the bedroom door, having committed the two offences, and called police.
In his sentence remarks, Judge Gordon Lerve said: "Any offending of this type is extremely serious, noting again that the maximum penalty is life imprisonment".
Judge Lerve said he recommended treatment based on the psychiatric report, which includes participation in counselling for sexual offenders.
"Given the history of the offender and the breach of conditional liberty, taken with the apparent circumspection shown by Dr Nielssen [psychiatrist], I cannot find that the offender is unlikely to re-offend."
The court heard that the offender had a limited intellectual function, had a troubled upbringing with learning and socialising, as well as employment.
The offender did not rely on intoxication as a defence during the sentence hearing.
Kershaw, who was unemployed leading up to the offences, will be eligible for parole in August 2023.
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