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Victim's Stories Murder Victims Stories Drink Drive Victims Stories Assault and Sexual assault Michelle Jackson Dr Deborah Waxman From Heather From Joan Hicks Antonia Davies Robyn Beveridge

Antonia Davies' story

As a young child I grew up in a very violent and unpredictable home. My mother was extremely violent, both physically and verbally. I have had broken bones from her beatings, as well as the emotional scars that remain. I have been sexually abused by seven different people, four of whom were family members, two were friends of the family, and one was a stranger. Two of the family abusers raped me when I was ten years old. One of the most horrific aspects of this was not only my mother, Jeanette Pearson, an abuser, but she set up and encouraged at least two other members, my great-uncle Doug Gurney and my step-father David Pearson.

I loved my step-father. He was not violent the way my mother was in the least. He very rarely shouted at us. I would have (and did) do everything I could to keep his love. When my younger half-brother was born, my mother "requested" that I start sleeping with David. To be honest I was too afraid of her to refuse, and as a young child I had no real option.

She now tries to deny all knowledge of the abuse. Rather difficult when she walked in one night as he was raping me. Her only comment was for him to keep the little bitch (me) quiet as it was disturbing her television watching. The rape hurt, you see, and I was crying. I was ten. For years I kept quiet, approximately 25 in fact. That was the acknowledged price I had to pay to remain within the family, even after the divorce. No one in my family has ever denied what happened, I was just told to keep my mouth shut.

When I first laid charges I was informed that the system was slow, OK fair enough. But I resented that David Pearson could miss more than one pre-trial, with no consequences. I was upset that even though he confessed, things were dragging on. And I was incensed when the first Judge threw the case out because "It was too long ago. It is not fair for this to be hanging over a man's head all this time". We appealed and won. David appealed but I believe this was eventually withdrawn.

By this time I was an emotional wreck, seriously contemplating and making a failed attempt at suicide. I eventually made a deal with David, one which I regret, not because I would not have gone to trial, but because the police kept telling me he had an excellent chance of walking free. I was not prepared for that to happen.

At the sentencing the Judge there made lots of the right noises. But he still gave David only two years - below even the minimum. He granted him leave to apply for home detention. This means that because David only got two years, regardless of his crime, he can (and is) applying for home detention every month of his sentence. The Judge could have spared me that.

He also did not specify that David was to do an offender programme either in jail or as part of his parole conditions, and I cannot request that he does. This means this man will come out of jail as dangerous if not more so than when he went in.

I do not feel that I have been taken seriously by the justice system. Yes it was a long time ago, but I was a child, and rape is rape. He still maintains that the offence was not serious, and he doubts it hurt me much then or left lasting harm. What are we inflicting on future vulnerable children?