Mum’s harrowing victim impact statement as stepfather sentenced for indecent treatment of teen

A distraught Queensland mum has revealed the shattering police phone call that made her leave her partner, take her kids and run from the life-threatening aftermath of a trusted stepfather’s ultimate betrayal. Warning: Distressing content

A young abuse victim’s courage was praised after she gave evidence at a District Court trial. Generic image.

A Central Queensland mother was excited about starting a new job - and then one phone call from police would change everything. It was the start of a living hell.

The phone call informed there were allegations the woman’s young daughter had been sexually abused by her stepfather.

“I stood in a... shed over 100km away from my baby girl, screaming and crying - my poor father thought someone had died,” the mother said as she delivered an emotional victim impact to the Gladstone District Court after her ex was found guilty by jury of two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 under care.

As the mum continued speaking, her story reduced a courtroom to tears and a chorus of audible sniffling.

“I was inconsolable and he (the mum’s father) had the awful task of driving his sobbing child over an hour to the bombshell that we both knew would ruin our lives,” she said.

“I immediately knew that I could not take my children, especially (the victim child), back to that house.

“I moved in with my parents that same day.

“We arrived with nothing - my friends had to go and get us some clothes.”

The mum said while living with her parents, the “entire period” she had to sleep in the same bed with her daughter (victim child) who wouldn’t sleep alone.

“Even after we moved out (victim child) continued to sleep in my bed for months.”

The mum said over the next three-and-a-half years while waiting for a trial date, her daughter’s mental health steadily declined.

“Her grades at school got worse and her attendance dropped off.”

Her once happy little girl was “broken”.

“Someone who was robbed of her innocence.

“She developed trust issues, she was scared to be around men, all men - teachers, bus drivers, even her own dad.”

Gladstone Courthouse.

The mum said the more “the legal process waffled on” the worse her daughter got.

“She began to wonder if no-one would believe her, and those thoughts just ate away at her.

“(She) had to be sent into counselling.

“She now takes antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication.”

The mum explained that her daughter attempted to take her own life.

“I called her father in the middle of the night and he came racing down to be by her side.”

The mum said her daughter “begged us to make the pain stop.”

“She apologised over and over.

“She was hospitalised for several weeks due to the extent of the damage she did to herself.”

The mum said from this point on, she became “obsessively hyper-vigilant” around her daughter.

“I just couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t go to work, I just watched her.

“Sleep was full of nightmares and horror stories anyway - still to this day, I’m terrified I’m going to wake up one day and she’ll be dead, despite the best efforts to get her the help she needed.”

The mum said her daughter also “began starving herself.”

“She literally wasted away in front of me.

“Kilo after kilo just melted off her little body.

“(She) became so overwhelmed by the unwanted and unrelenting attention... the constant therapy appointments, bringing her past to the present every few days.”

The mum said her daughter ran away from home.

“She stopped attending school regularly.

“All through school, until this began happening, (she) was an amazing student.

“She got great grades and was rarely in trouble.”

The mother said now, as she looked back, not realising that something was wrong earlier was “almost too much to bear.”

“Ever since getting that phone call from the police, my belief in my abilities as a mother have been destroyed,” she said.

The girl’s father also read his victim impact statement to the court.

In it, he said he found it very difficult to put into words what the stepfather’s offending had done to his daughter.

“It has almost killed her - and unfortunately I mean that in a literal sense.”

He further stated that he was “so proud” of his daughter for what she had done and “her resolve to keep going.”

During sentencing in July, Judge Jeff Clarke praised the young victim’s courage after she gave evidence at the trial.

Judge Clarke’s comments can be read HERE.

Originally published as Mum’s harrowing victim impact statement as stepfather sentenced for indecent treatment of teen