A PREDATOR GOES TO PRISON

As early as 1994 there were complaints that Dr Larry Nassar was inappropriately touching his young female patients, but it took more than 20 years for him to be charged with a crime. In 2016 former gymnast Rachael Denhollander filed the first criminal complaint against him, alleging that Nassar, who received an osteopathic medical degree from Michigan State in 1993 and began practising sports medicine there soon after, had abused her during her treatments. More complaints followed, and in 2016 the then-married physician and father of three children was indicted on child-pornography charges. In 2017 he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. In 2018, after pleading guilty to multiple sex crimes, he received first a sentence of 40 to 175 years in one county, then 40 to 125 years in another. As she sentenced Nassar, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told him, “I just signed your death warrant.” voice, and if something doesn’t feel right, they should speak up and ask questions. I wish that back then someone had encouraged me to do that. If they had, they would have figured out a long time ago that I was being abused.”

Her advocacy work, she says, has given her purpose. “I feel like I have a voice,” she says. “Speaking out has helped me feel stronger. It’s helped me reclaim what happened. I want to make sure that no abuser has power anymore. I’m just starting to realise how strong I am, and I won’t be silenced.”