Alex’s abuser attacked me too
In the search for answers about brilliant young vet Alexandra Tapp’s untimely death, new podcast My Sister’s Secrets meets a young woman who narrowly escaped a terrifying predator.
When Liz Nix read a powerful story by journalist Virginia Tapscott in The Australian in 2020, revealing she had been a victim of family sexual abuse, Ms Nix’s blood ran cold.
Ms Nix had a secret of her own: as a young teenager she had been attacked by the same man who preyed on Virginia and her sister Alexandra.
Ms Nix has agreed to tell her story for My Sister’s Secrets, a powerful new podcast from The Australian about the legacy of childhood sexual abuse that led Alex Tapp to die by overdose in 2020.
A family friend, Ms Nix was on holidays with her parents 25 years ago when Bruce Tout — a friend of the family and the step-grandfather of Alex and Virginia — attacked her during a trip to the small seaside town of Woolgoolga, just north of Coffs Harbour on the NSW mid-north coast, not long after she entered her teens in 1992.
“My mum and (Virginia’s) Nan were cousins, and our families often took holidays together,” Ms Nix tells the podcast.
“We were staying in a big house and my brother and I were sharing a room downstairs, and one afternoon everyone decided to have a relax and a nap – except my brother who went off exploring with Dad.
“I was lying down on my bed just having a bit of a nap and (Tout) came along and lay down beside me. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, what’s he doing here? This is Beverley’s husband. He shouldn’t be here with me.’
“Then I felt his hand on my breast. One hand on my breast and the other on my bottom, trying to get my legs apart and I just froze.
“I couldn’t think of how to get him away from me because he was so big. I just forced my legs closed and just closed my eyes and just prayed for it to end.”
Fortunately, those prayers were answered moments later when her brother entered the room.
“Bruce just jumped up and got, walked away, and I ran straight upstairs into Mum and Dad’s room, shut the door and burst into tears,” she says.
“Then Mum and Dad came in and I was just crying and I said, ‘I need to tell you something.’ I said, ‘Mum, you’ve got to talk to Beverley.’ You know, ‘Beverley’s got four granddaughters. He’s bad, bad news.’ If he’d done that to me, I was so worried about what he could do to (them).
“That was the last time I ever saw him. I said to Mum and Dad, I never want to be him ever again or see him ever again.”
Bruce Tout is now deceased but as a young woman, Alex would be raped by another family member, who has not been brought to justice.
My Sister’s Secrets is an exploration of how abusers operate within families, creating secrets and lies to hide their crimes - and the emotional and societal pressures that keep survivors quiet.
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My Sister’s Secrets is the new investigative podcast from The Australian, available now in the podcasts section of our app or at mysisterssecrets.com.au
Get the app at the App Store or Google Play
Subscribers hear episodes first and get access to all Virginia Tapscott and Steve Jackson’s groundbreaking journalism on this topic, plus much more. To check out our subscription packages, visit theaustralian.com.au/subscribe
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