A Magistrate has sentenced a father of seven to three years imprisonment for incest.

The father from Guadalcanal, who could not be named to protect the identity of his daughter, was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of incest at the Magistrate's Court.

He committed the offence on the 12th of September last year - the victim was his daughter, aged 13.

The Court heard he had followed her to a stream where she had gone to refill water and forced her to have sex with him.

The girl later reported the incident to her mother and the man was arrested and charged in October last year.

The girl also reported that the sexual abuse had begun two years earlier when she was only eleven.

In handing out the three year sentence Magistrate Stefan Metanomski said it is "hard to imagine a more recapitulating crime than a father sexually abusing his daughter and threatening her not to tell anyone."

He said the defendant and the community must realize that this behavior is totally unacceptable.