A Porirua man has been sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison for sexually abusing a number of children - including his biological daughter - between 1990 and 2019.

The man, whose name is suppressed along with that of his victims, began his offending in early 1990 when his daughter would stay with him for weekends.

In Wellington District Court today Judge Peter Hobbs heard victim impact statements from the man's six victims – five of whom were children at the time.

Judge Hobbs said it was clear from their statements the harm the man had caused was significant, and had caused generational trauma within the family, as well as within the wider community.

His victims included his daughter, a niece, a stepdaughter and a neighbour.

The court heard he would indecently assault his daughter every weekend she stayed with him, when she was between 3 and 11 years old.

These offences included rubbing his naked body against her, and rubbing her naked body with his hands claiming he liked the skin-on-skin contact.

This escalated to rape when the girl was 7.

One of his victims was 7 when the man began to regularly expose himself to her. She lived opposite him, and he started breaking into her bedroom to steal and wear her clothes and leave her frightening messages.

"The ongoing nature of the offending created an environment of fear and confusion for her as a child," the summary of facts said.

It began with the man exposing himself and touching himself in the girl's view, usually as she was walking to school.

"The victim was well aware this behaviour was directed at her because the defendant would ensure eye contact and smile at her."

On one occasion she saw him standing in his garage fully naked except for a "black rubber-like tubular apparatus" wrapped around his waist and over his penis.

"He looked directly at her then gyrated his hips, causing his penis to waggle."

As time went on his behaviour "evolved again and took on a more sinister aspect", the summary said.

One day as she walked to school she looked across and saw him standing behind the screen door of his home, watching her, while wearing one of her T-shirts stretched tightly across his chest. He had no other clothes on.

"This pattern of behaviour and non-disclosure of it by the victim was by now so well established the victim simply averted her eyes and carried on about her business."

About a week later she came into her room and found the shirt laid out, display style, across her bed.

He repeated the behaviour again, this time stealing a bra and pair of underwear from the girl's drawers, then leaving them laid out on her bed again.

His offending against the girl included knocking on her bedroom window with his penis exposed, leaving porn on her bed, and sneaking in to leave notes for her written on paper ripped from her diary.

One night when she went to bed she noticed writing in ink on the slats of the wooden frame of her bed, saying something to the effect of "If you have a boyfriend I will be angry".

She said the incidents with him happened every week while she was in her first year of college and abated when she reached her second year.

He had six victims in total, with the youngest aged only 3-5 years old at the time of the offending. One victim was an adult.

He would play a game called "hide the scrunchy" with some of his victims, which usually ended with him hiding the scrunchy on his penis

He played this game with his daughter as well.

His offending against his victims escalated to rape, indecent assaults, and compelling them to perform indecent acts on him.

One of his victims finally sought help after attending a programme in school teaching students how to keep themselves safe.

His adult victim was staying in his home when she caught him filming her in the shower.

A search of his laptop revealed a number of objectionable images containing child exploitation material.

Judge Hobbs told the court the "sheer scale" of the man's offending was an aggravating feature, as was the gross breach of trust.

"Five of your victims were children, there was a significant age disparity between you and your victims and a gross breach of trust due to the nature of your relationship."

A cultural, drug and alcohol and psychiatric report gave no indication of any connection between a rough upbringing with an abusive father and the man's offending.

He will be automatically added to the child sex offenders register, and his parole will be up to the board.

- Melissa Nightingale and Vita Molyneux, NZ Herald