An offender's persistence in sexual offending against a child after becoming aware of the serious psychological harm being caused — particularly where the child has been hospitalised for psychiatric treatment — is a significant aggravating factor that may place the offending in the worst category of incest, even where some of the more extreme elements of depravity found in other cases are absent. A broad brush approach to sentencing on multiple similar incest charges is appropriate where the circumstances of each offence are very similar and each act had a cumulative effect on the victim's mental health.
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