Graphic content: A convicted murderer was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Thursday for a range of other crimes, including forcing a dog to have sex with a 16-year-old girl.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Justice Michael Elkaim of the ACT Supreme Court labelled the acts "so base they stretch the limits of morality".
The court heard Jeffrey Lee, 49, had begun a relationship with a girl 27 years younger than him while she was 15 years old.
Lee was convicted of two charges of sexual intercourse with a minor, three charges of bestiality, several assault charges and multiple counts of creating and distributing child pornography.
The incidents occurred in 2012 and Lee pleaded guilty to all charges in 2017.
Lee has been in prison since 2016 for murdering his stepfather.
The court heard Lee took the 15 year old to Mount Taylor and Red Hill Lookout to engage in a range of sexual acts. Their relationship continued after the girl was 16 and was legally able to give consent.
The acts of bestiality relate to a dog that Lee had access to. After consuming methamphetamine together, Lee convinced the girl to allow the dog to engage in sexual activity with her, while he watched.
On another occasion, the girl was unconscious and Lee once again enabled the dog to engage in intercourse with her.
The prosecutor described the relationship between Lee and the girl as being defined by child sexual abuse and escalating violence.
On one occasion Lee plunged a fishing spear into the girl's arm during an argument. He pulled the spear out of her arm, bound the wound with socks and a bandage and refused to allow her to go to hospital.
During a different incident Lee discovered the girl had used a tattoo gun she found in his home to tattoo two stars on her leg. He tried to cut the tattoo out of her with a knife.
The girl has been left with lasting scars from both incidents.
Lee faced nine charges extending from using the girl to create child pornography. Lee and the girl performed live sex shows broadcast online and he also took photographs of the naked girl.
On one of the photographs scratch marks from the dog are visible on her.
Lee was also convicted of a charge of conspiring to engage in bestiality. It stemmed from Lee and a man he met online sharing pornographic images of each other, some of which included a dog.
The two men discussed plans to carry out sexual activity with a dog and Justice Elkaim declared the specific facts of the incident "dig down to the very depths of depravity".
Lee's defence barrister Ken Archer said his client had led a normal life prior to the breakdown of his marriage in 2002.
He said his client had become a heavy drug user, which had led to the "destruction of his moral compass".
"He was pursuing interests and fetishes that were clearly not in the mainstream," Mr Archer said.
Mr Archer tried to argue the girl, who was 16 at the time of the acts with the dog, had not been a victim in those instances but had also committed an offence.
In sentencing, Justice Elkaim said the girl had suffered physical injuries but expected the psychological effects "upon her have been overwhelming and will probably dictate aspects of her life for very many years to come".
He also said the impacts on the dog, whose health apparently deteriorated after the incidents, equated to animal cruelty.
Justice Elkaim sentenced Lee for a total of 13 years imprisonment for the offences with a seven year non-parole period.
However when taken into account with his sentence for murder Lee may only serve a further four years on top of his non-parole period.
