Fight for the Forgotten: Survivor speaks out on broken justice system after harrowing rape

While walking home, a young woman was targeted by a teenage predator whose sickening acts changed her life forever. She’s now sharing her harrowing story in the hopes she can help other women speak out. WATCH THE MINI DOCO

A Queensland woman who endured seven minutes of hell as a teenager threatened to kill her and her baby while he raped her on a CBD street in Toowoomba is speaking out to empower survivors and hold their perpetrators to account.

The Darling Downs woman shared her story in the wake of the Queensland Government’s belated announcement that rape will be one of five offences added to the “adult time, adult crime” laws, which followed months of mounting pressure.

The Fight for the Forgotten campaign was launched in January by The Chronicle, alongside a number of newspapers from north Queensland to the Gold Coast, which highlighted the government’s silence and deflection on whether or not rape would be included in the laws and why it was left out in the first place.

The Toowoomba woman’s rapist, now 17-years-old, was sentenced a day after the government’s first round of “adult crime, adult time laws” were introduced.

Leah* said if her straightforward rape case, which was violent, premeditated, and caught on CCTV, was an example of how victims were treated by the system, she wasn’t surprised that a majority of rape and sexual assault victim-survivors suffered in silence.

The young mother said the shame and stigma she and other sexual assault survivors endured was compounded by a broken justice system and limited access to support services.

Seven minutes of horror

Leah was walking home through the Toowoomba CBD when she crossed paths with a 15-year-old boy who was stalking the streets for a target after fantasising about rape for weeks.

When Leah told the teenager to leave her alone, he responded by telling her that she “wanted him,” before he circled her on a scooter and began hitting her in the face.

She ran to the public library, where he dragged her to the ground.

She bravely fought back and broke free, however the next time he pinned her to the concrete and threatened to kill her with a knife if she didn’t do as he said.

Leah thought she was going to die and that she would never see her baby again.

Following the horrific attack, Leah said many people made her feel responsible for what happened.

In a show of strength and resilience Leah* returned to the place of her attack to tell her story.

“I was just trying to get home,” she said.

“I did absolutely nothing wrong to cause that attack.

“Yet I’ve been made to feel like I’m the one who shouldn’t talk about it because I should be ashamed.

“Well no, it was a random attack, and he did this, he should be ashamed of what he’s done.

“But everyone keeps telling me that ‘oh you should be ashamed, just get over it,’ well no, it’s not that simple.

“It’s such a scary thing to go through, anyone would be absolutely terrified in that situation.

“It’s hard to just turn your back on that and walk away.”

When the Darling Downs teenager was sentenced to serve 18 months of a three-year jail term, the Children’s Court of Queensland in Toowoomba heard he showed no remorse and was at a high risk of reoffending.

The teenager told a psychiatrist he was only a risk to women who didn’t know who he was because they wouldn’t be able to report him to the police.

He also said during the rape he was annoyed and frustrated by Leah’s crying.

“Shut up,” he told her.

“Be quiet.

“Stop crying.”

A court heard the teenager showed no contrition, regret, or remorse, and appeared to have a relatively callous indifferent attitude towards the impact of his “incredibly serious, predatory, and degrading,” actions towards complete stranger.

Leah said she wanted to give people the strength to stand up for themselves, come forward, and be heard, but the current state of the justice system was stopping women and men from reporting their abuse.

“He (allegedly) nearly killed me that night, and that he walked away with a slap on the wrist is absolutely preposterous,” she said.

“He threatened to kill me, and he threatened that he was going to go and find my one-year-old and kill him.

“There’s a lot in the system that needs to change, but they’re more worried about banning vapes than actually helping kids and taking the time to sit with them and find out what’s leading to their behaviour.”

Rape not deemed an ‘adult crime’

The day before the Toowoomba region teen was sentenced for three counts of rape, and one count each of sexual assault and attempted rape, the Crisafulli government had passed laws to ensure juveniles who committed adult crimes, served adult time.

However, rape and sexual assault were not included.

Leah said this omission sent a message to survivors that the government “really don’t care about the people who go through that”.

She said perhaps it would have unfolded differently if it was one of their family members in her shoes.

“They just (didn’t) care because it (wasn’t) one of them,” she said.

“It’s one of the most horrendous crimes you can commit, it’s one of the most horrendous things you can do to someone that affects the rest of their life.

“It’s not something that you can walk away from. I can vividly remember that entire night from start to finish. It plays over in my head all the time.

“It’s not something that you can just forget.

“Yes, everyone deserves a chance to fix up their lives, but I’m sorry, if you attack or try to kill someone, then you should be charged as an adult.

“You do an adult crime, you should be charged as if you’re an adult.”

In April, following months of evading the question of whether or not rape would be included in the next raft of law charges to the Youth Justice Act, the Crisafulli government announced it would be including it in the Making Queensland Safer laws.

After months of uncertainty, responsibility shifting, and pussyfooting, the state government announced the offence of rape would be one of five offences added to the Making Queensland Safer Laws. Picture: Supplied / File

Forever looking over her shoulder

Leah said every fibre of her being was altered and she would never again be the person she once was.

“I had to return to work and just pretend like it didn’t happen because that’s just what I had to do, pretend that it didn’t bother me and that I wasn’t seeing his face literally everywhere, it was haunting me,” she said.

“It still haunts me, but that’s not something that’s going to change.

“For a long time, I couldn’t walk down the main street of Toowoomba because I was so terrified.

“I’d freak out and have an anxiety attack every time I had to drive past (the library).”

Leah said she’s worried about what might happen when the young man is released, not only for her and her child’s safety but for other women’s safety as well.

“What’s to stop him from going after someone else as soon as he’s released? Because the law isn’t going to stop him,” she said.

“Yes, he’s spent time and had time to think about what he did, but he told me if I call the police he was going to kill me, I’ll regret it, and a million other things.

“If someone willingly does that and says those things once, what’s to stop them from following through?

“He couldn’t care less what he did to me, he couldn’t care less if I was left there as a dead body.

“He knows what I look like, he knows my name, where I used to work.

“Toowoomba is a small town, if you really want to find someone you can.”

A court heard CCTV from 3.14am showed the woman at the Little and Victoria Street intersection, and the teen was riding a scooter near Grand Central when he spotted her blonde hair. In the weeks before the offence, the then 15-year-old fantasised about raping a stranger.

Ways the system is failing survivors

Leah said didn’t feel supported by the justice system and didn’t receive adequate mental health support.

“There’s not really any support in Toowoomba, that person will still run free, and he gets his life back, while I have to live with the fact that happened to me and constantly looking over my shoulder,” she said.

“I was offered a few counselling services, but they were services I had to pay for or didn’t want to take me on because they didn’t deal with sexual assault victims.

“The fact that they’d only sent me links referring me to males… that’s insanely heartless considering what a male had just done to me.”

Hours after the rape at hospital, Leah said despite asking for a female doctor, there were only male practitioners available to do her rape kit.
“The option should be there for victims to choose who they’re more comfortable (with) whether it’s a male or a female,” she said.

She said she had no idea what was happening with her case as it moved through the courts and wasn’t informed about its outcome.

“For a year, I was waiting to see how court was going, for a year my life was just depending on how he got sentenced. That was a whole year of my life just waiting to hear back and then they wonder why people don’t come forward?” She said.

“After they didn’t need anything from me I didn’t get contacted at all.

“I had to chase them up for it, which I think is absolutely bonkers.”

Leah said she wanted to be in court when the teenager was sentenced however, she was told she couldn’t be there.

“I didn’t have that option to be there which I don’t understand and they didn’t explain why,” she said.

“I should have had the option.”

She felt as if the justice system was more focused on protecting the rights of her attacker than hers.

“His details were protected because he was a minor, mine weren’t, definitely not as much as his were,” she said.

The teen was sentenced to a three-year jail term, with release after serving 50 per cent of the term, a three-year probation order with a special condition that he complete a sex offenders program, and no conviction was recorded.

Boys will be Boys

Experts say the best way to curb the sexual violence crisis gripping the nation, with higher rates reported in Queensland and New South Wales, is more funding and support for men’s behavioural support programs.
Growing up in Queensland and working in a range of professions, Leah said she’s often disregarded and undermined because of her gender, and that the prevalent culture of “boys will be boys” was an aspect of our culture that normalised the disrespect of women.

“He doesn’t see what he did as shameful at all,” she said.

“To a lot of guys… especially people his age, they’re just like ‘oh this is kind of funny or I just did this to a chick,’ and it’s never okay.

“The whole ‘boys will be boys’ is still a massive thing, maybe not as much as it was… but it’s still used as an excuse.

“It’s the same (excuse) with domestic violence, ‘it was the chicks’ fault, she had done something,’ but it’s not the truth at all.

“No one ever deserves being hit, thrown around, yelled at, or any type of abuse because there’s emotional and manipulation abuse.”

Too many suffer in silence

Leah said it was important for women and men who have survived sexual assault to know that it was not their fault and they should never feel ashamed.

Leah* ran to a public library (pictured) while being pursued by the teen sexual predator, in the hopes his disturbing actions would be caught on CCTV.

“You go through all this pain and physiological abuse because you’re pretty much just beating yourself up over what happened, like ‘what could I have done differently?’ When it’s not actually your fault at all,” she said.

She said it was an important subject to destigmatise because more often than not, survivors suffered in silence.

“The number of people who are sexually assaulted compared to the people that report what happened – the numbers and statistics are insane,” she said.

“I really want to urge people to come forward, especially men, because I know a lot of men have had this happen and are so embarrassed by it that they don’t and it’s because it’s never talked about.

“If enough people come forward, maybe we will see change… (but) people need to see there’s consequences to their actions.

“A lot of people do feel as if they can’t talk out because they’re embarrassed or ashamed or they feel like they can’t speak about it because they think nothing’s going to happen.

“Because a lot of the time, nothing does happen, and nothing is done about the situation when you do speak out, and it’s such an invasive situation and a very invasive process and procedures you have to go through.

“I was very lucky that there was CCTV of my (assault), and even then he tried to say things didn’t happen.”

In a few months the teenager will be released from juvenile detention.

He had no conviction recorded.
*Note: Leah is a pseudonym used to protect the identity of the woman.

Originally published as Fight for the Forgotten: Survivor speaks out on broken justice system after harrowing rape