‘I couldn’t tell or I’d have been left on my own all over again’

as they clearly aren’t getting it from anywhere else which is why I craved the attention and love from that one person.

“The more love he showed the more I wanted.

“I couldn’t tell or I would have been all on my own again.”

Sadly, this kind of story is not unique.

According to Keiran Watson of Dundee children’s charity Eighteen and Under, serious sexual abuse of young people is happening on a daily basis across Tayside and Dundee.

Keiran said that it wasn’t only teenagers who were the victims of sexual abuse, but very young children as well — sometimes even babies under the age of one.

Keiran added: “The vast majority of this abuse is carried out by someone known to the young person, and sadly most of it goes unreported.

“For a variety of reasons young people don’t report what’s happened to them.

“Sometimes, as in the case highlighted, young people continue to live with the abuse because for them it’s the “norm”.

“They accept that this is what happens to them.

“It’s often not until much later that they feel they can tell someone.”

Keiran said in Dundee, the charity currently has around 50 to 60 young people who are working with them as volunteers.

He said: “They come to us as volunteers but often in these cases it then comes out that they have actually been the victim of sexual abuse themselves.

“By coming to us as a volunteer it gives the young person time to get to know us and trust us enough to tell us their story.

“We have a very strict policy of confidentiality and we would never betray a young person’s trust if they asked us not to tell anyone else.”

Keiran said that at any one time thousands of children in Dundee could be suffering sexual abuse.

He said this figure was based on statistics which showed that a fifth of young people are affected.

“Clearly not enough is being done in the city or throughout Scotland to address this problem. “Children under the age of 18 in Dundee are still being abused and will experience sexual abuse at some point in life.

“The really scary thing is most won’t tell anybody.” The teenager finished by saying: “It’s been hard and very slow as I’m still not able to open my mouth to speak.”

Picture posed by model.

Keiran Watson