The man, who The Courier cannot name to protect the identity of the victim, made an application for bail at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Ivan Blomley said the accused allegedly sexually assaulted his step-daughter on a number of occasions when she was aged between 14 and 16-years-old.

The court heard the accused went into his step-daughter's bedroom while her mother was asleep in July 2018, lay next to her and allegedly put his hand under her clothing, touching her bare breast.

Sergeant Blomley said the step-daughter told the accused what he was doing was weird and asked him to stop and the accused said she had mental problems if she 'didn't want this'.

Other instances of alleged sexual assault include when the accused allegedly tried to kiss the complainant and put her hand near his penis.

The accused allegedly put his hand under her skirt, inside her underwear and tried to rub her vagina while they were sitting in the car together on a later date.

Sergeant Blomley said the teenage girl was in an online class in her bedroom between April and May this year when the accused sat next to her and moved his hands into her underwear.

He is accused of touching his step-daughter's breasts and her vagina again in May 2020 while in her bedroom, despite the teenager saying she wanted him to stop and did not like it.

The court heard the step-daughter recorded a conversation on her mobile phone of the accused allegedly saying 'don't call me a molester, you are in on it', 'you have done nothing wrong' and 'am I that ugly you can't fall in love with me, I said I loved you'.

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Sergeant Blomley said the accused allegedly called his step-daughter while she was at school in June and said he loved and missed her, the police did not need to know, no one would believe her and it was breaking up the family.

The step-father is also charged with contravening a family violence order by sending his step-daughter text messages and calling her in June, after an order was put in place preventing contact.

The accused allegedly told the teenager 'you want me to go to jail, that is what it feels like' and 'it doesn't feel like you care'.

He made more calls later in June and allegedly abused her on the phone saying 'you should have kept quiet', 'you are a nasty little c*nt' and 'tell the police it was a lie'.

The court heard the accused denied the allegations when he was arrested and interviewed.

A victim impact statement made by the step-daughter reveals she experiences ongoing fear and nightmares about being sexually abused by her step-father.

The statement said she found it difficult to be at school and hard to have a conversation with her mother.

Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said the allegations were serious and should be in the committal rather than the summary stream.

"The allegations made are too serious to be heard in the summary stream and the maximum penalty in this court of five years is not sufficient," he said.

"This is clearly a case that if proven... would attract a penalty of higher than five years as the head sentence."

The accused will remain in custody and return to court in December to continue his bail application hearing and for a decision to be made on whether the charges should be uplifted to the committal stream.

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