My Elisha was abused

Mother of tragic teen reveals suffering of her daughter and vows to help others

THE mother of 14-year-old Elisha Gault, who took her own life last month, has said her daughter had been sexually abused.

Elisha went missing on St Patrick’s Day and it was eight days before her body was recovered in the River Suir near her home in Carrick-onSuir, Co.Tipperary.

Her mother Gráinne Gault recounted the events leading up to her daughter leaving the house to Pat Kenny on TV3 last night.

She said: ‘Everything was normal as a normal Saturday would have been. She went out for a few hours with her friends and she had returned home and she had broken one of the house rules. That resulted in her being reprimanded. She was being grounded and having her phone taken off her.

‘I walked out of her room to let emotions calm down… Within a few minutes of walking out of the room to go into a different room to allow her to calm down and us talk about it in a lower key, I heard the front door going.’

Ms Gault said she went out and searched for Elisha until the early hours of the morning.

She said her daughter had been doing well up until the previous week, when Elisha was experiencing a breakdown with her group of friends and she felt like she was losing her peer group.

Earlier, Ms Gault posted on Facebook that Elisha was one of five people who were sexually abused by the same man.

‘Without knowing why, Elisha began to struggle from 2012, she withdrew and her behaviour changed and we became increasingly concerned. Myself and her father were extremely active in her life even though we split in 2010, we had a great co-parenting model and Elisha was very close to her father and adored him.

‘After a few years of trying to understand why Elisha had been acting out, she finally disclosed that in 2012, she was sexually abused by a person who was known to her and in a position of trust. She was one of five victims at the hands of the same man.

‘[On] May 31, 2017 – Elisha was subjected to a cyber-bullying incident that resulted in her locking herself in our bathroom at home, placing herself in the airing cupboard, consuming paracetamol and bleach in an attempt to end her suffering. We presented to St Joseph’s Hospital, Clonmel, who were fantastic and made sure we had our first appointment with CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) on June 1, 2017.’

The family felt they and Elisha were let down by the services.

Ms Gault said she wanted to channel the pain caused by the loss of Elisha to do some good and improve mental health services.

She wrote: ‘As a family we are devastated by the loss of Elisha but we will now fight to change the course of victim support services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and campaigning to implement a selfcare curriculum for primary and post-primary students.

Elisha Gault is survived by her mother Gráinne, her father Cameron Moore, and her sisters Bhrianna, Chloe-Nicole, and Saoirse.

One of five victims of the same man