A 74-year-old man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for repeatedly raping and abusing his daughter over more than a decade, causing her to develop dissociative identity disorder. Richard Haynes changed his plea to guilty mid-trial in March after being extradited from the UK to face dozens of charges including rape, buggery, and assault from the 1970s and 80s.
District Court Judge Sarah Huggett described Haynes' abuse as 'depraved and abhorrent,' involving grooming, conditioning, and humiliation to exert control. She said the psychological manipulation and escalating violence reinforced the power he held over his daughter. The judge handed down a maximum sentence of 45 years with a non-parole period of 33 years, noting Haynes will likely die in jail before his earliest release date in 2050.
The court heard that Haynes threatened his daughter, warning that if she told anyone, her mother would die and it would be her fault, or he would kill her siblings and pet. During one act, he told her, 'No one loves you, I can do what I like to you.' The victim, now 49 and waiving her right to anonymity, developed dissociative identity disorder, with alters including a four-year-old girl named Symphony and a teenage boy called Muscles.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Haynes described the abuse as 'calculated and planned,' saying there were insufficient words to describe the enormity of the offending. Outside court, she expressed relief at the sentence, hoping it would be hard and onerous. She now wants to move on with her life and is desperate to travel.
