Years of sex abuse at hands of father
Woman breaks silence to tell of torment
A rape victim has spoken of the years of torment which she endured at the hands of her father who had threatened to kill her if she ever broke her silence about the prolonged campaign of abuse.
A RAPE victim has spoken of the years of torment which she endured at the hands of her father who had threatened to kill her if she ever broke her silence about the prolonged campaign of abuse.
Kim Chown revealed the huge emotional burden she has had to cope with after former university lecturer Francis Beaumont subjected her to years of abuse before finally being brought to justice three decades after the sickening offences.
The 79-year-old has been jailed for 20 years after being convicted of five offences of rape against Mrs Chown.
She told The Yorkshire Post that she had chosen to waive her right to anonymity in the hope of becoming an ambassador for victims of similar abuse.
She said: “I am one of the stronger surviving victims of childhood sexual abuse inflicted by a father of his daughter. Not many people in my situation get to this point in their lives. Many take it as a secret to their graves, others take their own lives.”
Leeds Crown Court heard Mrs Chown, who is now aged 53, suffered years of physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of her father.
Jurors were told Beaumont, a university lecturer in histology, began the abuse when he took his daughter to live in Kenya. Beaumont often plied the youngster with alcohol which led to her battling for years with alcoholism.
Mrs Chown was forced to take the contraceptive pill by her father but twice became pregnant, resulting in her having to have two abortions.
He continued to abuse his daughter when they returned to live in Guiseley, Leeds, and raped her up until the age of 20.
Beaumont, of Brackenwood Green, Gledhow, Leeds, was found guilty of five offences of rape in the UK between 1979 and 1985. Judge Tom Bayliss, QC, told him that he could only be sentenced for offences committed under English law, but described the abuse as “a campaign of rape”.
The judge said: “You are an intelligent man and you knew perfectly well what you were doing. It was calculated by you to degrade her, to make your own daughter compliant to you and make your own daughter submit to your sexual demands.”
Mrs Chown, who gave evidence at the trial, described how she was “petrified” of her father as he threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the abuse.
Beaumont threatened to dissolve her body in sulphuric acid and dump her remains in the Kenyan bush if she told anyone. She took the threat seriously as she knew he had access to chemicals
He showed no remorse. I was nothing more than a sex object for him.
Kim Chown on the years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father.
during the course of his work.
He also kept a plastic carrier bag under his pillow and threatened to use it to suffocate her.
Mrs Chown, who is now a businesswoman now based in County Durham, told the court she was a recovering alcoholic and had been free from drink for 14 months. She blamed her addiction on the alcohol given to her by her father as a youngster.
She said: “Despite having such a wonderful family of my own and happy memories of the years I have had with my husband seeing our children growing up, there has still been a cloud hanging over me.
“A cloud full of emotional baggage, shame, guilt, confusion, anger, bitterness, despair and sadness. I would have flashbacks to the terminations he put me – his little girl – through. I would make myself ill by increasingly drinking to numb the pain.”
The court heard the victim had written a letter to him in 2007, explaining how the abuse had made her feel. Beaumont failed to reply to his daughter.
She said: “He has shown no remorse. I was nothing more than a sex object for him – a thing he could vent his frustrations, anger, sexual desires – no matter how extreme – upon. I was not a person, not his daughter. In his eyes, I was put on this planet purely for his use.”
The jury found Beaumont guilty of a rape offence when his victim was aged 14 and was attending a boarding school on the Yorkshire coast. Beaumont went to visit her then took her to a hotel where the sex offences took place. The final offences took place at his home in Guiseley in 1985.
The trial heard Mrs Chown told her mother, by then estranged from Beaumont, about the abuse in the same year. A report was made to the police at the time, but Beaumont took her to a solicitor and made her sign a retraction. Mrs Chown found the courage to go to police again in 2015.
WORDS LIKE ‘courage’ and ‘bravery’ are so liberally used that they do a genuine disservice to those who genuinely exhibit these qualities in abundance.
Inspirational people such as Kim Chown who was subjected to “a campaign of rape” by her brutal father Francis Beaumont, a former university lecturer in Leeds. He has now been jailed for the depraved crimes which he committed against his own daughter more than 30 years ago.
By waiving her right to anonymity, and speaking so candidly about how she has turned her life around while her manipulative attacker begins a 20-year prison term, she is offering hope – and encouragement – to everyone who remains tormented and traumatised by sexual abuse. They now know that they, too, can come to terms with their ordeal and should utilise the support that exists – and draw strength from Mrs Chown’s example as she dedicates herself to helping others in the true personification of courage and bravery.