Burlington (US): An English woman has been charged with aggravated sexual assault on a child after the discovery that her 7-year-old daughter kept a diary in which she noted when she was forced to have sex with her mother s boyfriend.

The girl, who now lives in California with her father, also told investigators that while she lived in England, her mother allowed men she brought home to have sex with her.

Stacey Parnitzke, 40,and former boyfriend Shane Casey, 38,were arrested Friday in Vermont. They could get life in prison if convicted. Each pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

The assaults allegedly occurred when the girl was between 7 and 9,according to court documents.

Vermont State Police Detective Lance Burnham said he had never seen such a case.

"With these cases, when they deal with children, you have the truest definition of a victim," Burnham said. "This child could not have fought back. She was unable to do so. She was totally at the mercy of these two individuals."

A lawyer for Parnitzke and Casey did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment.

Burnham said Parnitzke was born in England but was a permanent resident of the United States. Parnitzke and her daughter moved to Vermont in 2004,but Parnitzke sent the girl to live with her father in 2006.

The father went to police in October after the 11-year-old girl told him that while living in England, Parnitzke would bring men home from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and let them rape her beginning when she was 5.

Investigators in California contacted Vermont authorities because the girl said Casey sexually assaulted her repeatedly.

Source : PTI