Police probe Grace Tame abuser over ‘harassment’ but defend response, ‘strong’ laws

Police are assessing Grace Tame’s allegations of ‘threats’ by her former abuser, but defend existing laws as ‘strong’ in the face of her criticism.

Grace Tame. Picture: Getty Images

Police are assessing Grace Tame’s allegations of “threats and harassment” by her former abuser, but defend existing laws as “strong” in the face of the former Australian of the Year’s criticisms.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Wilkinson, of Tasmania Police, on Tuesday confirmed officers were “assessing” Ms Tame’s complaint against convicted child sex offender Nicolaas Bester.

“Tasmania Police can confirm Ms Tame has made a complaint about the behaviour of an individual on a social media platform – however we cannot provide further details for legal reasons,” Mr Wilkinson said.

“Ms Tame has been provided with advice. Where an investigation leads to a person being charged, a charging statement is released where it is in the public interest.”

Ms Tame on Monday shared screenshots of tweets from Bester, a teacher at her Hobart school, who was in 2010 convicted of sexually abusing her, serving jail time. Bester was 58 at the time of the abuse; Ms Tame was 15.

In Bester’s tweets, he refers to Tame using her childhood email alias. “At last I shall come for [Tame’s childhood email] … in good time,” one of Bester’s tweets read.

In another he wrote “the good old comeuppance on its way”, while apparently referring to Ms Tame. Twitter has since removed his profile.

“Here he is, the twice-­convicted child sex offender, referring to my childhood email, which very few people know, in place of my name. It was the login to my old Facebook he and I communicated on,” Ms Tame said. “He’s counting down to an act of revenge, planned for the day of my book’s release.”

Ms Tame’s memoir, The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner: A Memoir, is due to be released in September.

On Tuesday, Ms Tame said the police response to her complaints about Bester’s online activities “hasn’t been great”, with little feedback from officers. She suggested this experience was likely a common one in Australia, with the justice system “too slow” to respond.

However, Mr Wilkinson said Australia had “strong laws to prevent and deal with harm caused by serious online abuse and illegal and restricted online content”.

He said eSafety – a federal government agency – had the power to investigate and remove adult cyber-bullying and abuse, image-based abuse, and illegal content.

“If you or someone you know experiences online abuse, you can go to eSafety for help,” he said.

Ms Tame has said she has “written openly” about how Bester groomed her “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,” she wrote.

“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.”

Ms Tame’s case influenced the overhaul in 2019 of Tasmania’s gag laws, allowing her to speak about her experience. This led to the “Let Her Speak” campaign, created by anti-sexual assault advocate Nina Funnell.

Ms Tame, who was named 2021 Australian of the Year, has launched a foundation in her name to “campaign for and help fund initiatives which work to prevent and respond to sexual abuse of children and others”.

Bester served one year and nine months for his abuse of Ms Tame and for possessing child exploitation material.

Online harassment can be reported here.