Jail for 'touchy-feely' parents

File photo / Supplied.

SYDNEY - A Sydney man who justified he and his wife's sexual abuse of their nine-year-old son by claiming they were a "touchy-feely" family, has been jailed for at least nine years.

At Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Friday Judge Anthony Garling rejected claims by the 57-year-old man, who cannot be identified, that the acts were his means of "educating" the boy.

"This man was sexually abusing his son, and I have no doubt he was doing it for his own sexual gratification," Judge Garling said during sentencing on Friday.

The married couple from suburban Sydney had pleaded guilty to charges including having sexual intercourse with their son, namely oral sex.

The father also pleaded guilty to streaming footage online of his wife engaging in sex acts with the child.

The offences occurred between February and November 2009. Police were alerted by the boy's school after his "inappropriate behaviour" and admission that his father "makes me hard".

When questioned, the man said his family were nudists and that "there's nothing hidden".

"We are a very touchy-feely family, which we always have been," he told police.

The man said the behaviour was not premeditated and that he saw no difference between "a parent holding a child's hand to holding a child's penis".

"The law says you can't, but I mean it's our way of educating our son," he told police.

"They are not getting any sexual education at school. He knows about sex already because we've sort of showed him."

The man sat in prison greens, arms folded, throughout Friday's sentencing. He will be eligible for parole in November 2018.

His tearful wife of 12 years, aged 49, sat next to him fidgeting with the handle of her walking stick.

She has been sentenced to serve at least three years and nine months in prison and will be eligible for release on parole from August 2013.

"(The woman's) attitude to these offences is almost unbelievable," Judge Garling said.

"She blames her husband, and I am satisfied that he did have some domination over her.

"However, she seems to believe it is acceptable to carry out sexual acts with her nine-year-old son.

"She, like her husband, seemed to think that if her son did not protest, at the age of nine, he is consenting and indeed enjoying it.

"If that attitude is true, it is disturbing to find parents with that attitude in our community."

Judge Garling found the boy, who is now in the care of the NSW Department of Community Services, had suffered "significant emotional harm" as a result of the abuse.

The court has been told previously that the woman intended to divorce the man and wanted to have nothing more to do with him.

- AAP