'This was never love': Victim blasts abuser over childhood assaults

CONTENT WARNING: This story refers to the sexual abuse of a child.

A victim has told her cancer survivor abuser in court that she was “so much more than what you treated me as” and “not just a sex object”.

The court heard the man, who Region cannot name for legal reasons, was aged 20 when he abused the then-13-year-old child more than 100 times, filming part of the abuse and giving her cannabis.

He has pled guilty to charges, which include using a child to create child exploitation material, the persistent sexual abuse of a child and aggravated assault.

In a sentencing hearing in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday (19 February), his victim said the impacts of his offences remained with her.

“Every single day since then, I have thought about how it felt to be so objectified. You treated me like I wasn’t even a human person,” she said.

In her statement, the victim detailed how she struggled with flashbacks of the abuse as well as nightmares.

“Nevertheless, after all this, I hope you can one day understand this was never love or any type of real relationship. This was child abuse,” she said.

Prosecutor Marcus Dyason read a statement to the court from the victim’s mother in which she spoke of the “truly terrible time” during the offences.

The man was “controlling her [the victim]” during the abuse, the statement read. The victim’s mother also spoke of the pain of realising her missing child was with an adult who was “telling her not to come home”.

The mother said her daughter had “suffered since” and told of the struggle to find support for her PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).

“[My daughter] tried hard to pick up the threads of her life and move on, but she just couldn’t,” she wrote in her statement.

Mr Dyason urged the court to hand down a prison sentence based on the abuse acts committed “in excess of 100 times”.

He also said the cannabis given to the victim placed her “in a more vulnerable position than she otherwise would have been”.

The man’s defence lawyer said several factors – including his client’s young age at the time and ongoing health issues – meant he should be handed an intensive corrections order.

“This person has particular features … which must be given significant weight [in sentencing],” he said.

He said the man’s history of childhood cancer had affected him not only psychologically, but also meant he had ongoing health issues that needed to be managed.

He also referred to an expert’s opinion in which his client was described as having an “effectively stunted development” in the teenage stage and “emotional immaturity”. He said this affected his client’s decision-making.

“He thought like an adolescent, even though he was legally an adult,” he said.

Acting Justice Rebecca Christensen will sentence the man at a later date.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.