Victim tells of torment

Stepdad jailed but family in denial

A WOMAN who was sexually abused by her stepfather wrote a heartbreaking statement to a judge, telling how she decided not speak out as her mother would not have believed her.

Her abuser, a Burdekin man who cannot be named to protect the woman’s identity, was sentenced to three- and- a- half years jail in Townsville District Court on Wednesday.

The man pleaded not guilty to one charge of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child and three counts of indecent treatment but was convicted by a jury on Monday.

He was found not guilty on two further counts of rape.

The court was told the man would touch his stepdaughter’s breasts and genitalia every few months when his wife was out of the house.

The abuse started in 2010, when the girl was 13, and continued for 3 ½ years.

The man was supported in the court by his wife, the victim’s younger siblings and family members.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate read the woman’s victim impact statement to the court, detailing the extent of the woman’s torment.

“I knew my mother would never believe me if I told her what had been happening,” the woman wrote.

“Because of his standing in the community, I felt I had no one who I could talk to outside of the family. “I was trapped. “It made my life and experience throughout my teenage years very lonely.”

The woman wrote that she was regularly “scared and anxious” after the abuse started, preferring to be at school, where she was regularly bullied, than at home.

“I was worried he was going to do more things to me and how far it would go,” she wrote.

The woman said she now suffered from depression, anxiety, poor self- image and problems in her relationship.

“I have always been quiet and reserved but I feel that because of the abuse, I was robbed of the opportunity to grow, be confident and like myself,” she said. “I’ve lost my family. “My mother and sisters have clearly sided with ( the abuser) and have disowned me, and I am not sure that I will ever be able to have a relationship with them.”

The abuse was reported to police in 2016.

Judge Kieran Dorney, QC, said that given the court testimonies of the man’s other children, he was unlikely to offend against them.

He said the man had taken advantage of his good standing in the community to abuse a “vulnerable” young woman.

Judge Dorney ordered the man be released on a suspended sentence after serving 21 months in jail.