A historical child sexual abuse victim has successfully sued her abuser and has been awarded more than $762,000 in damages by the ACT Supreme Court.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The woman, now aged 54, sued her uncle, who sexually abused her multiple times between 1980 and 1981 when she was aged between 11 and 13.
The woman, who grew up in Canberra, said the first occasion of sexual abuse occurred at her grandmother's home in Ainslie and continued from then on, "on more than 20 occasions".
She said it was "a weekly event" until the year her uncle turned 21.
The woman did not tell her parents and felt she had to go through with being abused to protect her cousins because her uncle said he was going to "do it to the other cousins".
The man had also "told her not to tell anyone and that she would not be believed because she was the family liar".
She eventually told one of her aunts in 1989 before disclosing the abuse to her mother, who told her not to tell her grandmother.
The woman reported the matter to police in 2017 and the man was found guilty, by a jury, of count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person in December 2019.
The man was later sentenced, in March 2020, to 12 years in jail, with a non-parole period of six years, for sexually abusing this woman and two of his other nieces when they were children.
The woman who subsequently sued claimed assault, battery and negligence.
She sought compensation for past and future economic loss, out-of-pocket expenses, past and future domestic assistance, and aggravated damages.
Her uncle did not appear in court or file any defence, and Justice David Mossop ruled that he had therefore admitted the claims against him.
Justice Mossop found the abuser was liable, and ordered him to pay his niece a total amount of $762,023.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram