It took just moments for lawyers representing a "profoundly evil" child sex offender to drop his appeal this morning after judges warned they were prepared to lock him away for even longer.
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The man, who cannot be named for risk of identifying his victims, was jailed last year for 20 years after subjecting his daughters to sustained and horrific sexual abuse.
His legal team lodged an appeal against Chief Justice Higgins' sentence, arguing it was too severe.
But the case took a twist this morning in the ACT Court of Appeal when judges Richard Refshauge, John Burns and Bruce Lander indicated a preparedness to increase the sentence.
The existing sentence, which would see the prisoner eligible for release in early 2025, was one of the longest handed down in the territory in recent years.
Justice Refshauge earlier this morning said he and his judicial colleagues considered the Chief Justice erred in sentencing the man.
But he said in the circumstances they believed it was within the power of the court to keep the sexual predator behind bars for even longer.
The comments amounted to a very rare "Parker direction", a warning to the appellant giving them the opportunity to drop the appeal.
The man's counsel, veteran silk Ben Salmon QC, conferred briefly with his client before dropping the appeal.
The brief hearing required no verbal submissions from the prosecutor, Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White.
The prisoner showed no emotion as he was led out of the court.
At the sentencing in 2010 Chief Justice Higgins described the man as the instigator of "profoundly evil behaviour" perpetrated with the aid of his wife.
He said the crimes were "extremely serious and abhorrent".
"They strike at the very foundation of civilised society," the judge said.
"They are offences committed by the very person or people that innocent children are entitled to expect love and protection from."
The father ultimately pleaded guilty to 15 charges, including committing an act of indecency on a person younger than 10 and engaging in sexual intercourse with a lineal descendant.
The abuse occurred at a home in Canberra's north, beginning in the late 1980s when the girls were respectively aged seven and eight or nine, and occurred as often as every two days.
The crimes only ceased when the victims left the family home in the 1990s, and the two women went to police in 2005 and 2006.
The mother admitted five sexual offences, including aiding and abetting her husband in engaging in sexual intercourse with their daughters.
She was subsequently jailed for 10 years, and will be eligible for release in 2015.
