Danny Friddle admitted yesterday to repeatedly raping his infant child and videotaping the assaults, crimes that were labeled "shocking and despicable" by the Prosecutor's Office.

The 31-year-old defendant appeared before Family Court Judge Patrick Border yesterday afternoon to finalize a plea agreement with the state that calls for a punishment of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt and khaki pants, Friddle repeatedly answered "yes" to questions from the judge, demonstrating that he understood the charges and the consequences of his guilty plea.

He will be sentenced by Border in February.

Under the terms of the plea deal, the state will ask the Hawai'i Paroling Authority to set Friddle's minimum time behind bars at 20 years.

Friddle agreed not to seek a parole hearing until 15 years of incarceration.

"What Danny Friddle did was shocking, despicable and an outrage to the entire community," said First Deputy Prosecutor Douglas Chin. "This kind of behavior will not be tolerated."

Friddle was arrested by Honolulu police in March after a backpack containing a videotape of the assaults was discovered at a Kalihi bus stop.

Chin said that a child found the backpack and gave it to a parent, who turned it over to police after viewing the video.

"It was one child saving another," Chin said outside court. He acknowledged that Friddle's crimes might have gone undetected if the backpack had not been found at the bus stop.

"We have no idea who put the tape at the bus stop," he said.

Friddle pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree sex assault, three counts of second-degree sex assault and three counts of promoting child abuse in the first degree.

Chin declined to discuss the relationship of the victim to Friddle, but court records show that he began his assaults in June 2006 on the day his daughter was born.

According to the indictment, one series of assaults on the videotape occurred from June through September of 2006 and others from October 2006 to March of this year.

Friddle came to Hawai'i with the Army in 2003 and was married here in December 2005. He was divorced in September 2007.

After leaving the military, Friddle worked as car salesman and as a security guard, according to court records.

Friddle's identity card with a local security guard company was found in the backpack. His ex-wife identified him as the man on the videotape, according to police reports.