Scots victim Sarah: I feel so vindicated
A SCOT who spoke out about abuse by Jeffrey Epstein says she feels “vindicated” and “completely overwhelmed” after Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction.
Sarah Ransome, daughter of the second Baron of Drumochter, has written a memoir about her time in the clutches of the financier who died in prison in 2019.
Speaking on the CBS news network after attending the trial, Sarah said: “I never thought this day would ever happen.
“For me it’s really important to thank the prosecutors and to thank the four incredibly brave, beautiful women that testified because, without them, without their truth, we would never have got Ghislaine behind bars. We would never have had this verdict. So yes, this is justice. But this is just the beginning.”
Sarah admitted yesterday it still hadn’t sunk in properly that “justice has finally been served”.
She said: “It’s been such a long, hard journey to get here. So yesterday’s decision will take a little while to sink in.
“But the thought of Ghislaine spending the rest of her life behind bars… you must understand she destroyed so many hundreds, if not thousands, of women, young women and children.
“So I’m pleased she will never be out again ever to hurt anybody else.”
Sarah has said she was lured into Epstein’s ring in 2006 when she was 22. In her book, Silenced No More: Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back, she writes about the abuse and her experiences with Maxwell.
Sarah claimed yesterday Maxwell’s acts made her “worse than Epstein”.
She said: “Women are supposed to look after each other. Human beings are supposed to look after each other. And because she was a woman, she normalised abuse.
“She participated, she tortured me and others, and she’s worse than Jeffrey. She broke the sisterhood. She broke that bond. She was supposed to be a protector and nurturer, and she failed us. And she’ll have to live with that for the rest of her life.”
Sarah, who settled a civil suit with Maxwell and Epstein in 2018, did not testify in the trial, but praised the four women who did.
She said: “These brave women gave me my day in court. That’s why it was so important for me to be there in New York during the trial.”
Sarah described the verdict as “history-making”.
She added: “This is an example that… the powerful, the wealthy, you can’t behave like this.
“You will eventually be stopped. And I hope people think really long and hard next time they want to hurt another human being.”