The burden of abuse

A teenage girl beaten and abused by her stepfather says knowing her mother didn’t intervene will stay with her the rest of her life.

The girl, who has automatic name suppression, watched as the man that taunted, abused and belittled her for five years was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court on Friday to five years’ imprisonment.

‘‘I will have to live the rest of my life knowing you weren’t there for me when I needed you the most,’’ the girl told her mother in court.

The mother, who cannot be named without identifying the child, will be sentenced on April 13 for neglecting her daughter.

The abuse would start when the stepfather returned home from work, the girl said.

He would toot the horn in the driveway, swearing at her to open the gate for him. His anger would soon grow into acts of violence.

Wearing steel-capped boots, he kicked her hips and legs. A rolling pin was broken on her back. A towel rail was swung across her body.

Her toes were bashed with a meat tenderiser as he forced her, with arms outstretched, to hold full buckets of water.

He once threw her so hard she broke her foot and made her lie to medical professionals about it.

She was made to do chores that exceeded her physical capabilities and, if completed slowly, her hair was cut as punishment.

Neighbours heard the verbal tirades day and night, echoing through their cul-de-sac. If she cried, he would beat her. If she didn’t cry, he would get even more angry. All the while the girl’s mother stood by, silent about the abuse inflicted on her own daughter for five years.

‘‘When you called me names, I believed you,’’ the girl told her stepfather in court.

‘‘I thought I was a retard and a loser, and that the world would be better without me. You made me feel like a lesser person.

‘‘If I didn’t run away in June 2016 I believe this abuse would have continued.’’

She would cover her bruises and hide the spatula as she tried desperately to find a reprieve.

Crown prosecutor Karl van der Plas said the abuse amounted to cruelty and was made worse by the girl’s social isolation and dependence on her stepfather and mother.

Judge Lance Rowe said the stepfather lacked basic kindness and empathy. He had shown no remorse and still accused the girl of lying.

‘‘[The girl] was entitled to your protection, not your abuse,’’ Rowe told the stepfather.

‘‘She strikes me as a very resilient ... and brave woman. She was aged 8 to 13. She was small and powerless. The person with the power in the house was you.’’

The girl is now living with her father, who spoke of the lingering nightmares still haunting his daughter two years on. She was reduced to tears whenever a hairdresser touched her hair. She can’t tolerate noise louder than a ‘‘normal talking voice’’.

His daughter often put herself down or called herself names when she was confused or got something wrong. ‘‘I suffer a lot of guilt for [not noticing the abuse],’’ the father said.

‘‘I was the first to confront [the mother and stepfather]. Unfortunately, I believed the lies they told me ... I’ll carry guilt for the rest of my days.’’

‘‘You made me feel like a lesser person.’’ Abuse victim to her stepfather