Monique says that police officers should be properly trained if they deal with child sexual abuse
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Monique was sexually abused by an uncle.
The abuse was reported as soon as it happened, and again when she was an adult. She is upset that he was not prosecuted.
Monique was about five or six years old when her uncle, Craig, sexually abused her at a family gathering.
She has other recollections of him sexually abusing her when he was babysitting her and her cousins. He touched her and made her touch him. He would ‘bribe’ her with sweets and time playing computer games.
Monique told her mother about the abuse, and her mother contacted the police.
She now knows from conversations she has since had with her mother that because of another incident, the specialist child protection team were busy. Monique says that the two police officers who spoke to her were ‘lovely’ but they were not trained to deal with child abuse.
Monique recalls that she was asked ‘loads of questions’ and encouraged to demonstrate with a toy what Craig had done to her, but she was unable to do this. The police officer told Monique’s mum that she was sorry that she couldn’t get the information, but said she did believe that something had happened to Monique.
Monique’s mum was later told by the police that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were not going to pursue the case as they didn’t have enough information. Her mum took her to the GP who said that child protection staff should have been involved.
The situation caused a rift in the family, with the aunt who was married to Craig accusing Monique of lying.
When Monique was 18, she felt that she was ready to talk to the police again. She gave a video interview and the police also found her original video interview. She says that again, the police made it clear they believed she had been abused, but the CPS did not proceed with the case. She felt very upset by this, and finds it hard to understand.
Monique has suffered with mental health problems, nightmares and flashbacks. She has had some counselling in the past and is having therapy which she finds helpful.
She feels strongly that only police officers who are properly trained should deal with allegations of child sexual abuse.