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The prosecutor said the victim got the courage to speak out against her father only after four years of abuse Reuters

A judge in the Californian county of Fresno has sentenced a man to 1,503 years in prison after he was convicted of raping his teenage daughter over a period of four years. This is thought to be the longest sentence in the Fresno court's history.

Judge Edward Sarkisian of the Fresno Superior Court said the 41-year-old man, whose name has been withheld here so as to protect his daughter's identity, poses a "serious danger to society" while sentencing the accused. The victim, who is currently 23, managed to speak out about the sexual assault only in 2013 after she had suffered the abuse for four years.

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At first she was sexually assaulted by a family member in 2009 but her father exploited the incident and began to rape her almost two to three times every week between May 2009 and May 2013. Prosecutor Nicole Galstan told the judge that instead of protecting his daughter after the grisly episode, "he chose to turn her into a piece of property and use her to satisfy his sexual needs", reports the Fresno Bee. "He ruined her teenage years and made her feel like it was her fault."

In September 2016, the accused was found guilty of 186 counts of sexual assault including raping a minor. "When my father abused me, I was young. I had no power, no voice. I was defenceless," the victim told the court, adding that her father had shown no remorse. When she got pregnant by her father, he also paid for the abortion.

The convict had earlier turned down two plea deals and claimed the trial was not fair but the court said the hearing took place under a fair process and the evidence against him was overwhelming. He refused to testify during his trial and sent a letter to judge calling his daughter's accusations "hearsay".