A Hunter mother has spoken out following a drawn-out legal battle after a man indecently assaulted and had sex with her under-aged daughter.
Daniel Warren Carleton is due to be sentenced next week after he was found guilty of six counts of having sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 14 and three charges of indecently assaulting a person aged under 16 - almost three years after he was arrested.
The conviction marks the end of a long road for the family of the young girl, who cannot be identified.
Her mother told the Newcastle Herald ahead of the sentencing that the teenager was "relieved that no-one else will have to feel like she does".
Carleton, a rugby league player who has run IT businesses in the Hunter Region, was arrested in November, 2016.
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The matter went to trial before the 24-year-old was ultimately convicted on October 1 of a raft of child sex offences.
He remains on bail ahead of his sentencing on October 31.
The victim's mother said Carleton was "the local computer guy".
She said the family was going through "deep grief", with her brothers having recently died, when the abuse began.
"He basically swooped in just after the second one passed away and made his presence sort of known, I guess," the woman said.
"Yeah, there were some red flags, but at the time, I guess any reasonable person wouldn't have noticed them straight away.
"I was just sort of getting through life having lost both my brothers. It wasn't a good time for me. I have a lot of mum guilt."
To compound matters, the woman was pregnant when she learned of the abuse committed against her child.
"The pregnancy was horrible," she said.
"I almost lost the baby and ended up in John Hunter Hospital.
"As a family, the family unit broke down primarily due to this situation."
The ordeal has been drawn-out for her daughter, with the conviction coming almost three years after Carleton was arrested.
"The problem was he played it right to the end, carrying on that he's innocent," the mother said.
"It's just been a really tough time for my daughter. She's been through mental health stuff - she still does school, she still does part-time work but she's just hanging in there because it dragged out so long.
"I do have her under a lot of watchful eyes at the moment.
"She just wants to get through life. It's been really tough. She's more relieved that no-one will have to feel like she does. And that's her hope."
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