Man found guilty of ill-treating girls

20apr05
By LUKE SAYER

Australia:  A MAN who threatened his children with a rifle and locked them out at night has been found guilty of ill-treating three daughters.

Dennis Noel Prior, 61, of Frankford Highway, Harford, had pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court in Burnie to five counts of ill-treatment of a child and four counts of assault.

On Monday night a jury found him guilty of three counts of ill-treatment of a child and one count of assault, and not guilty of one count of ill-treatment and two counts of assault.

The jury could not reach a verdict on two other charges.

During the trial the court heard Prior would lock one daughter in a woodshed and strike her with sticks and piping.

He also pointed a rifle at her head and kicked her with steel-capped boots and poured hot water on her head.

Another daughter was trapped under the floorboards of the house and locked outside the house at night.

A third daughter was kicked and punched and isolated in a shed overnight.

The court also heard Prior forced his daughters to work on the family farm after school and at weekends, performing hard manual labour.

The children were also denied meals and time to do homework.

He was found guilty of assaulting another daughter, throwing her against a wall and repeatedly kicking her after an argument about her smoking.

Defence counsel Greg Richardson said Prior was a disability pensioner who grew up at Mathinna.

"It is particularly interesting in taking instructions about his childhood that you could close your eyes and say, `Haven't I heard this before (in this court)'," Mr Richardson said.

"His childhood was characterised by violence and extremely hard work."

He told the court Prior was working in a sawmill at the age of 12 while attending school.

"There is no doubt Mr Prior worked extremely hard and the children did as well," Mr Richardson said.

"Obviously the jury's decision takes you to one conclusion, where he is today is his own fault.

"But what is left of his life will be spent without his family and with limited resources."

Justice Pierre Slicer remanded Prior in custody for sentencing in the Supreme Court in Hobart on May 3 at 10am.

http://www.themercury.news.com.au