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GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS (BNO NEWS) -- A 53-year-old man from the Netherlands who repeatedly raped his daughter and eventually impregnated her when she was just 11 years old has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, prosecutors said on Friday.
Calix W., whose last name was withheld under Dutch privacy laws, was arrested in April 2011 after a DNA test confirmed he is the father of his daughter's child, who was born several weeks earlier during a school trip. The girl, who gave birth at the age of 12 but became pregnant when she was 11, was unaware that she was pregnant.
The victim told police in February that Calix began sexually abusing her when she was just 6 years old. "The statement is sufficiently supported by witness testimony and factual information," prosecutors said on Friday, rejecting allegations from the defense that the statement was not credible because the victim did initially not want to talk to police. "The statement is also largely supported by the fact that on March 22, 2011, the victim gave birth to a child and research has shown the accused is the father."
Court documents detail the graphic confession made by Calix, who admitted to having sex with his daughter on one occasion but claimed she consented to it. "We had sex on the couch," he told police in a graphic statement which blames the girl for the pregnancy. "I had a t-shirt on, my pants were off. She was also only wearing a t-shirt, I remember that. We held hands, stroked each other, hugged, and then it happened: we had sex."
But the statement from the victim painted a completely different picture of the abuse. "I always thought it was normal, so to speak. That all fathers did that with their daughters," she told investigators. "He usually turned on the TV. Then he put it on a TV channel where people did the same. Then he asked if I wanted that (have sex). And I thought it was supposed to be like that, so I always said yes."
The girl said her father raped her more than 10 times a month, and prosecutors believe the victim was abused at least 300 times over a period of nearly six years. "I had a lot of pain and I had to scream, so to speak," the victim told police, recalling the first time when she was 6. "And then he said I had to be quiet. And then he became very angry at me."
There had been suspicions of sexual abuse in the past, and an anonymous tip in February 2009 led to a brief investigation which found no evidence of actual abuse. "To [school, redacted] for conversation with girl [victim's name, redacted]," an investigator said in his or her report at the time. "When asked she said her younger brother sleeps on the couch in the living room and her father sleeps with her in her room. She sometimes sees weird things, such as sex."
Prosecutors said the victim's accounts are very similar to those made by Calix's other daughter from a previous marriage, who was raped by her father at least five times in 1994. Calix served two years in prison for the abuse in the 90s. "Some of the details from the (1995) statement are remarkably consistent with the statement of [victim, redacted]," prosecutors said. "These details can not be known by [victim, redacted]."
A Dutch court sentenced the man on Friday to 10 years in prison, as had been demanded by the prosecutor's office. "In determining the length of the punishment, the court took into account the fact that it involves very serious offenses and suspect was previously convicted of abusing his other daughter," the court said in a statement. "The court charges the suspect that he has not taken full responsibility for his actions and gave no sign of understanding for the suffering he has caused."
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