The man who raped Sally when she was a teenage girl continued to intimidate her with mockery
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Sally was raped as a teenager and feels that a teacher in her school was complicit in this crime.
The rapist was a friend of the teacher, and also worked at the school. Sally says her abuser bought presents for her and the teacher encouraged her to meet him. At the time, she did not know about grooming.
One day she was walking home with a group of young people and as they passed the abuser’s home. He came out and started talking to her. He separated Sally from the group and took her into his home, where he raped her.
This only happened once, but the rapist continually mocked Sally when he saw her in school and when she walked home past his home. She says this mocking helped silence her and ensure she did not report what happened.
She believes the teacher encouraged the relationship between her and her abuser because she had spoken up in class and disagreed with him. She thinks the teacher wanted her to be punished and that he knew what had happened to her.
Sally describes the impact of the abuse as devastating. It affected her confidence, her personality was ‘annihilated’ and she became suicidal.
She blamed herself for what happened and thought of herself a ‘slut’ and a ‘hussy’. She was sure that if she told her family, they would also blame her. Her education suffered, and she left school with no qualifications.
Sally says she thinks social justice is important and that is one of reasons she chose to share her experience. She intends to report her abuse to help prevent others being abused.
She believes it should be a legal requirement to report child abuse. She says it should be the responsibility of the person who knows about the abuse to escalate it to authorities that can help the child, such as the police, and not just report abuse internally within an organisation. She adds that there need to be sanctions for not reporting a disclosure or details of abuse.
Sally also thinks there should be better sex education in schools that includes advising about friendships and that relationships do not need to be sexual.