A jury found the 35-year-old guilty of three counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under 17 after his victims gave evidence about the abuse during a trial last week.

The abuse started on the East Coast in 2000 when his sisters were about 4, 7 and 13 – the man was about 17 or 18.

For about 7 years, on separate occasions he sexually assaulted the girls.

The indecent acts included oral, anal and vaginal rape. 

In their victim impact statements, the sisters said they suffered “isolation, shame, embarrassment and depression” and their current relationships were affected by their past experience. 

On Thursday, the man appeared again before Justice Robert Pearce.

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His lawyer, James Oxley, said the man was a “very young adult” at the time of offending.

But Justice Pearce said the man was part of the victims’ family and he had taken advantage of “highly vulnerable victims”.

He described the act of anal rape as a “most demeaning and degrading form of sexual abuse” and said the sexual assaults against the victims were “of a degrading nature”.

As Justice Pearce handed down his sentence, the victims, their partners, their mother and other supporters sat in the back of the court.

The man was convicted on all three counts and sentenced to 11 years from September 28, 2017.

He will be eligible for parole after six years.