NSW: Father tells other parents to love raped children

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NSW: Father tells other parents to love raped children

By Denise McNamara

SYDNEY, Feb 1 AAP - How does a parent cope with the rape of a child?

The simple answer according to one father is love.

Maurice, whose daughter was subjected to a five-hour ordeal at the hands of pack rapistswhen aged 16, said the power of love can help break the shame that rape victims inevitablyfelt.

"That's the tragedy. They feel a sense of shame. The one thing we have realised, afather's love can break that power of shame," he said outside the NSW Court of CriminalAppeal.

"I'd encourage any father that has found himself in a situation like mine to love hisdaughter to death."

His daughter and best friend were taken to a Villawood house in the early hours ofSeptember 5, 2000 after they accepted a lift when left stranded at Beverly Hills railwaystation in south-western Sydney.

At knife-point, the pair were repeatedly raped, forced to perform fellatio and subjectedto what Crown Prosecutor Greg Smith termed "intellectual torture".

Mr Smith today appealed the minimum and maximum jail terms of up to four and six yearshanded to three of the men responsible.

Maurice, who attended today's hearing with the two victims, said he pitied the parentsof the offenders and the shame they must be feeling.

"I have one son and if he did that to me I think I'd die, I just wouldn't know howto cope if my son did that.

"You'd feel guilty yourself for producing a child that violates women in such a way,it's a horrendous act," he said.

Despite his family's plight, there was still room for optimism.

"I was a bit more fortunate than most people - the day that it actually happened Iwas actually reading another man's case and his daughter was murdered and I saw the affectsit had on his life.

"When I saw my daughter the following day I was just glad I could hold her in life,not go to a morgue and see her in that state.

"I thought: well, I have her alive, I can deal with the rest."

The family felt comments by today's court of appeal justices were promising and provided relief.

"It felt like that it was worth the fight.

"Today was pretty positive for them. I got a sense of tremendous pride sitting nextto my daughter there."

AAP dmc/jjs/cjh/sb

KEYWORD: GANG RAPE FATHER