US judge sentences California father to 1503 years in prison for raping teenage daughter

A US judge sentences California father to 1,503-year prison term for raping his teenage daughter over a four-year period.

A 41-year-old father in the US state of California has been sentenced to 1,503 years in prison over raping his own teenage daughter during a four-year period.

The Fresno man received the longest-known prison sentence issued by the city’s Superior Court on Friday, according to an AP report, which said it would not name the abusive father since that could identify his daughter.

In justifying the punishment, Judge Edward Sarkisian Jr. told the man in the court that he is a "serious danger to society," further underlining that he had never shown remorse and has rather blamed his daughter for his trouble.

Ironically, the man was first offered only 13 years behind bars by prosecutors in a plea bargain on the condition of admitting to his guilt. He rejected the offer during his preliminary hearing. Then again, he was offered 22 years in prison during the regular trial if he pleaded guilty, but he declined that offer as well, insisting that he should be released from jail for the time he had already served.

The monumental prison sentence is in stark contrast to a similar case recently tried in the northern US state of Montana, where a man who raped his 12-year-old daughter was not at all sentenced to prison.

Instead, the report said, the judge issued a 30-year suspended sentence after the man pleaded guilty to incest and ordered him to spend 60 days in jail, giving him credit for 17 days already served.

Meanwhile in the Fresno case, prosecutor Nicole Galstan said the man’s daughter was first sexually abused by a family friend but instead of protecting her, he turned her into “a piece of property.”

She further elaborated that the victim was raped two to three times a week from May 2009 to May 2013, when the daughter finally got the courage to leave him.

“When my father abused me, I was young. I had no power, no voice. I was defenseless," said the daughter, who is now 23 years old. She further told the judge that her father has never shown remorse for her pain and suffering.

In September, a jury found the abusive father guilty of 186 felony counts of sexual assault, including dozens of counts of rape of a minor.