A man having "simulated intercourse" with his 11-year-old stepdaughter was not a serious sexual assault, a judge said yesterday in rejecting a Crown call for a four-year sentence.

Justice Dennis Hart said the act committed by the Cochrane man fell short of more severe acts of sexual violation such as rape.

Crown prosecutor Pat Yelle had argued the conduct of the stepdad should have been classified as a serious sexual assault on the victim.

Yelle said such a finding would warrant a four-year sentence -- which the Alberta Court of Appeal has set as the starting point for serious assaults on children.

But Hart said the incident, in which the nude stepfather simulating intercourse with his wife's daughter while the girl had on her pyjama bottoms wasn't as extreme as other acts.

The Queen's Bench judge also said multiple acts of fondling perpetrated on the victim on other occasions didn't elevate the crime to the most severe types of assaults.

"I am unable to conclude that these offences fall at the serious end of the (sexual assault) scale," Hart said.

The man was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

"Repugnant and despicable as they are, I cannot find that they are akin to rape."

The stepdad, 39, was convicted last month after the girl testified she had been repeatedly fondled.

Hart rejected defence lawyer Balfour Der's call for a community term. Hart said the man's conduct required a sentence which denounced his conduct and deterred others from acting in a similar fashion.