Man spared jail after sexually abusing daughter suffering from cancer

The 6-year-old girl had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour and was undergoing treatment when the abuse began

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (Google maps)

A man has avoided jail after admitting sexually abusing his daughter while she had cancer, it has been reported.

The 41-year-old man from Indianapolis pleaded guilty on Tuesday to child molestation charges against his own daughter.

The abuse began when the girl, then aged six, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and her medical treatment meant that her parents took alternate nights to care for her.

According to court records, the man used these unsupervised nights as an opportunity to sexually abuse the child. His daughter was too young to understand the abuse but disclosed the attacks to her mother, who subsequently reported her husband to the police and separated from him.

Deputy Prosecutor Courtney Curtis said that she argued for the man to serve nine years in prison followed by three years probation. However she says that this argument was denied by the court after the victim’s mother asked that the man be allowed to avoid prison and instead work to support the family financially.

The court heard that since his arrest, the man had been let go by his employers which caused considerable strain on the family’s finances; conditions which his estranged wife feared would be exacerbated if he were to go to jail. He was continuing to live in the family home, which was fitted with a little girl’s princess castle made by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The man was sentenced to 12 years probation, ordered to register as a sex offender, attend counselling and leave the family home.

Ms Curtis said she “completely” disagreed with the decision not to send the man to jail and said that it was unfortunate that the legal system enabled people to avoid jail on the condition that they provide financially for their family.

She described the case as “the most horrific circumstance of a child molest case that I’ve ever seen.”