Magistrate Gregory Robinson denounced the offending, stating it was "shocking and horrid behaviour”.

"(It's) difficult to comprehend how any adult could abuse any child like that," he told the accused, who The Courier cannot name for legal reasons.

"This type of conduct will be dealt with harshly by the court."

The man faced the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to four charges and was subsequently jailed for 18 months with a non-parole period of 12 months.

Each of the four charges related to the man fondling with his daughter's breasts without her permission.

The court heard on two occasions the man walked up behind the girl, put his hands under her clothes and touched her breasts while telling her "very nice".

On another occasion he entered the girls' bed while he was naked and touched her breasts again.

The fourth time he touched the girls' breasts he told her she could not tell anyone.

The court heard the young girl did not know what to do, eventually telling her mother and reporting it to police.

The man's lawyer urged the court to consider a community corrections order which she said could deal appropriately with all aspects of rehabilitation.

"A community corrections order can accommodate serious offending such as this," she said.

She told the court her client suffered from a learning difficulty, but had referred himself to help following the charges.

But Mr Robinson said while he accepted the offending was not at the higher end of seriousness, he rejected any claim the man's learning disability affected his moral culpability.

Mr Robinson said the moment the accused told the young girl not to tell anyone, he was "fully aware of the criminality of what he was doing".

The accused has appealed the sentence, with the appeal due to be heard in the County Court at a later date.