Grace Tame accuses her abuser of continuing to post ‘threats and harassment’ online

Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has accused the man who abused her as a teenager of continuing to taunt her online.

Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has accused the man who abused her as a teenager of continuing to taunt her with “open threats and harassment” online.

When she was 15, Tame was sexually abused by 58-year-old Nicolaas Bester, a teacher at St Michael’s Collegiate School in Tasmania.

Bester served one year and nine months in prison for the abuse, as well as possession of child exploitation material.

In a lengthy Twitter thread on Monday night, Ms Tame shared screenshots of posts from an account she alleged belonged to Bester.

In one of the posts, published in April, the user who appears to be Bester says Twitter will be “liberated” by Elon Musk, presumably alluding to the billionaire’s bid to buy the social media company.

He then refers to Ms Tame’s childhood email account.

“At last I shall come for (the email account),” the post reads.

“Here it comes! The good old comeuppance on its way ... (the email account),” reads another example shared by Ms Tame, which was posted in August.

Grace Tame. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

“While it’s been a largely positive experience in the public eye, and I’m eternally grateful for the unflinching support, it might come as a shock, even to some close to me, that I am still dealing with open threats and harassment from the man who abused me,” Ms Tame wrote to her followers.

“This has been the reality for 12 years now, behind closed doors for my family and me. Mark my words, I am not going anywhere though.”

She said the childhood email address referred to in Bester’s posts was known by “very few people”, and was “the login to my old Facebook he and I communicated on”.

Ms Tame added that she had reported the posts to police.

“This is targeted harassment of a known victim of his past crimes, designed to cause further harm. I’ve reported them to police, but our reactive justice system is too slow, and nothing’s changed. I know this is an experience many others would be able to relate to,” she said.

“This might not be the ideal platform to address this situation, but if not here, and if not now, then I ask, where and when? This is an act of reclaiming my power against a predator operating in plain sight.

“This man seems to think he is still relevant and can maintain control over me. This man who groomed and abused me when I was a child. He has known me since I was 14.

“I’ve written openly about how he groomed me into believing I was infatuated with him. Such is the insidious spell. It’s a much safer narrative to live with that you’re loved than confront the reality that you’re the object of an abuser who doesn’t care about you.

“I’ve written about our sordid conversations, in which I fawned over him and we arranged to meet. It’s taken years of growth and studying to understand. The processing is ongoing.

“I’m not ashamed of any of it now. But he should be. He was an adult who abused his authority ... I know who I am. I am a survivor.

“I have the power to be vulnerable. He will never have that. He is too afraid, and too weak. He is too weak to be vulnerable. Instead, he exploits others who are. He knows no other way to be. I see that now, and because of that, he doesn’t scare me anymore. He is a sad, old menacing coward.

“This is not for the critics. They will say what they always say. This is for the people like me. And you know who you are too. I stand with you. We have the power.”

Grace Tame. Picture: Brenton Edwards/NCA NewsWire

Ms Tame rose to public prominence with the “Let Her Speak” campaign, which led to laws that stopped victims of sexual assault from talking about their experiences being overturned.

She was named Australian of the Year in January of 2021. And in December of that year she established the Grace Tame Foundation, which is focused on combating sexual abuse and aiding survivors.

Ms Tame’s memoir, The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner, will be released on September 27.