Betrayal of the worst kind

Sex abuse allegations stun family

HOW DO WE ACTUALLY MOVE FORWARD FROM THIS, WHEN A BOMB HAS BEEN DROPPED INSIDE YOUR FAMILY? DISTRESSED MOTHER

“SHE down.”

After years of sexual abuse, allegedly at the hands of a family member, a young girl, broke down and told her mum and dad what had been going on for more than a decade.

The mother of the victim, who we cannot identify, has spoken about the anger, grief and heartache that comes with the knowledge that a person they trusted and loved allegedly abused their young daughter since she was in primary school.

“In January last year, our daughter came home, her dad and myself sat down on the lounge, we just said ‘we feel like something is going on, please tell us, no matter what it is’,” the mother said.

“She said to us, ‘if only you knew what was going on’. We begged her to tell us … when we guessed what was going on and who was hurting her, she just fell to pieces.

“It was like a scene with convulsed and broke Jake The Muss. My husband, he lost it. I went into shock, I couldn’t do anything.

“Our daughter told us her story, it is horrible to think, this had been going (for so long).”

The horrific nature of the alleged abuse can’t be printed, as the case is still before the courts, but the mother said it was almost impossible to comprehend this man abusing their daughter.

“Everyone adored him, everyone. People would say he was the most kind, beautiful, loving man.

“But, he’s such a sick bastard. He was saying things to our daughter like, ‘I’m in love with you, if we could be together, we would’, he actually groomed her with love.

“He was there at her birth, when does a paedophile start seeing children in a sexual nature? How does that transcend into viewing them in a different and very inappropriate way. How can someone like this fool our whole family? This person deceived us all.

“How do we actually move forward from this, when a bomb has been dropped inside your family.

“We didn’t know what to do, we were so ill-equipped to provide the right kind of help our family needed.

“We went to our family GP, who referred us on to a psychologist, who has helped us tremendously in being able to help our daughter and our son, everyone in our family has been affected at some angle.”

A close-knit family, helicopter parents, who only wanted the best for their kids, she said they had no idea what was going on under their noses.

“If you asked any of our friends they’d say we were such a close-knit family, very united, very active with our kids’ lives, there was never distance there.

“Our daughter was always such a high achiever … she was such a hard worker.

“It’s so incredible to think the strength she had to keep a secret in for as long as she did, but in the end it was so detrimental to her mental health.

“She is so brave for coming forward.”

When they did go to the police, an investigation was launched, before the man was arrested and charged with the alleged abuse.

The mother encouraged parents to talk to their kids if they think something is off and go to the police if their children have been victimised.