Effie believes changes are needed to the way police investigate cases of sexual abuse
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Effie says the police investigation into the man who sexually abused her was severely flawed.
She is still trying to come to terms with the fact that the perpetrator was found not guilty.
Effie was 12 years old when her uncle started sexually abusing her. This continued for about two years, until she told her parents. By this time she had stopped attending school because her anxiety was so severe she could not leave her house.
There was a police investigation and her uncle was charged with more than 10 counts of sexual abuse. He was found not guilty of all of these and Effie now knows that many mistakes were made in the case. These included clothing and other evidence not being stored properly and being considered contaminated, and delays in obtaining certain evidence.
In addition to these mistakes, Effie says that during the years before the case came to court her uncle broke his bail conditions. Even though this was reported to the police, no action was taken.
Effie gave evidence in court via video link. She found this very traumatic and was not offered any support by the police. They did not tell her when her uncle was found not guilty; she heard from someone else.
Staff at her school were very supportive and one senior teacher came to court during the trial.
Effie did receive compensation for several incidents of sexual abuse but she does not feel this reflects the serious impact it had on her life, and she finds it very hard to accept the abuser was not convicted. She says ‘Being not guilty doesn’t mean it didn’t happen’.
Because she missed a lot of school, her work suffered, but in her final year she put in a lot of effort and attained some good grades. She suffers with PTSD, anxiety and depression and worries about bumping into her uncle.
Effie would like to see changes made so that other children and young people do not have the same negative experiences of the judicial system as she did.
She says the police should ensure they follow strict procedures for gathering evidence and give greater consideration to how they treat and support victims of child sexual abuse.
She adds that after trials, victims should not just be left alone but specialist support services should be made available to them.
Effie feels that she was not adequately prepared for the court experience and it would have been very helpful for her to have met the barrister and other officials before the trial.
She is having counselling and looking forward to going to college.