Indira told the police her stepfather was abusing her, but they believed his excuses and sent him home
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Indira showed physical signs that she was being sexually abused, and gave a statement to the police.
But no one in authority took her seriously, and her stepfather was able to continue abusing her.
Indira grew up poor. There was often no electricity and she remembers getting burns from the candles the family used.
When she was three years old, her mother began a relationship with a man called Don, who moved in and became her stepfather.
Indira does not know how old she was when Don started sexually abusing her, but is sure that it was happening when she was eight, and thinks it began a few years earlier.
She can remember having bruising around her groin, and also being taken to the doctor with what she now thinks was a urinary infection. From records she recently obtained, she knows there was evidence she was being anally abused.
When Indira was 11, she told a female relative that her stepfather had touched her. Social services were involved, and the police turned up at school and took her out of class to interview her.
She also knows from her records that the police interviewed her stepfather. He claimed that he was ‘comforting’ Indira because she was having nightmares. Her mother put more pressure on her, telling her that she would ‘ruin the family’s Christmas’ and that her sibling would have to grow up without a father.
Indira says the sexual abuse was ‘brushed off’ by her school. ‘I was told by a teacher I didn't know what inappropriate touching was, that I was being pressured’ she says.
Don stayed in the family home, and she says the abuse got ‘worse and worse’. He forced Indira to go on the contraceptive pill at the age of 12, but she became pregnant and had a termination.
She was bullied at school and called names because she had ‘lovebites’ on her body. She would run away from home and she attempted suicide. She says ‘There was no counselling, no social services help’.
After a short spell in care, Indira went to live with a female relative, and confided in her about the abuse by Don. The police were involved, and Indira says one female officer was very supportive, but no counselling was provided. Don was convicted and sent to prison.
As an adult, Indira has been involved in abusive relationships. She says her children ‘kept me on the straight and narrow’. She feels frustrated that social services scrutinised her as a mother when they did not protect her as a child. ‘They should have removed me from the house’ she says, ‘I just want an apology, I don’t want compensation’.
She suffers with anxiety, panic attacks, nightmares and flashbacks. She also struggles with low self-esteem and depression.
Indira says that the police should always speak privately and discreetly to a child, rather than pulling them out of class in front of others. She also suggests that social services should follow up all signs or allegations of abuse.
She adds that support and counselling should be available to survivors of sexual abuse.
Indira is now having therapy and says ‘I’m taking steps, positive steps … it ruined my life, I’m not letting it do that no more … I’ve just got to be strong’.
She adds ‘Thank you for listening’.