Connie wasn’t believed when she reported sexual abuse, so she didn’t speak out when it happened again
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Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
When a senior teacher offered to give Connie extra lessons, it made her feel special.
But this man sexually abused her and after she reported this to the school, she was expelled.
Connie grew up in the 1960s and 70s in a violent household. Sometimes she went to school with cuts and bruises on her face.
She was about 11 or 12 years old when a male teacher suggested he would teach her about photography. The ‘lessons’ took place at lunchtimes or after school, in the basement rooms of the school. The teacher used these times as an opportunity to sexually abuse Connie and take photographs of her. She believes that some of the other teachers saw the pictures.
When Connie realised this man was also abusing other girls in school, she told a teacher. Her parents were called into the school, and there was a police investigation. But the teacher denied everything, and told lies about Connie and the other girls. The police said there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute and that Connie wasn’t ‘strong enough’ to help with a prosecution.
After this her behaviour and school work declined rapidly and she began to get into trouble. She was eventually suspended for making up stories and was subsequently expelled from the school.
A few years later, when she was in her early teens, a new leader, Hamish, arrived at the cadet troop she attended. He knew about the abuse that had happened to her previously, and he asked her lots of questions about it. Then he began to target her for sexual abuse.
The first time it happened, Connie was getting changed after sport and Hamish walked into the changing rooms, grabbed her and raped her. He continued to abuse her until she was in her mid teens.
Connie says that she was too scared to tell anyone at the time because she felt she had not been believed before. Several years later, she reported Hamish to the police.
She feels the sexual abuse she suffered has affected her entire life. She has self-harmed and she tried to commit suicide when she was still a child. Later, she abused prescription drugs and had anger problems. She is still troubled by feelings of responsibility for other cadets who may have been abused by Hamish.