These are some of the experiences of child sexual abuse shared with the Truth Project by victims and survivors. All names and identifying details have been changed.
Download a PDF sample of accountsread full account of Elianas experienceEliana says ‘I wish I had reported the abuse to protect other people, but I felt loyalty to the school’
As a naive schoolgirl, eager to impress her peers, Eliana was flattered when a male teacher started giving her attention.
His abusive behaviour led to her developing a distorted perception of sex and relationships that still affects her.
read full account of Landons experienceLandon says ‘every little bit of information shared … it all helps’
Landon’s experience relates to an institution that has been in the public eye because of widespread child sexual abuse that occurred there.
He says that when he was a child, he learnt to ‘shut it away in a box’. Now he feels that speaking out ‘is a form of recompense’.
read full account of Lisa-Maries experienceLisa-Marie’s violent father sexually abused her for two years, until he began having an affair
Lisa-Marie grew up with her mother, two siblings and her father, who was violent to the whole family.
When her father started to sexually abuse her she decided not to tell anyone,to protect her mother and siblings, and to not make the situation they were in any worse.
read full account of Benjis experienceBenji is still distressed by memories of the man who abused him. ‘I think I see him every day’ he says
Benji was sexually abused and raped by a parish priest.
Decades later, he is still haunted by the trauma he was subjected to over four years of his adolescence. ‘It dominates everything’ he says.
read full account of Margarets experienceMargaret says the belief that she was a girl and should do as she was told was ingrained in her mind
When she was about nine years old, Margaret struck up a friendship with an older girl. Ganivia had a disability and didn’t have many friends, and she invited Margaret to her house. But Ganivia was being sexually abused by her father, and she groomed her new friend to be abused by him too.
Ganivia’s parents had separated and she lived with her father, Maurice. He showed the girls pornography, saying ‘this is what women do’ and then touched them. Ganivia joined in with the abuse and Margaret says this made her feel it was what was expected of her too.
read full account of Albies experienceAlbie says ‘Not being believed hurts more than anything’
Albie was sexually abused by a Catholic priest.
His experiences have left him with an abhorrence of the power that the church holds over some communities.
read full account of Beths experienceBeth’s mother could not get the authorities to respond to her reports that her daughter was being abused
When Beth was in her early teens, her father died, leaving her with her mother who had serious mental health problems.
An older man pretended to empathise with her difficult life, and groomed and sexually abused her.
read full account of Carols experienceHaving seen her care records, Carol cannot believe that they did not see what was going on
Carol was put on the child protection register due to neglect. She was sexually abused by men of two generations in her foster family and subsequently by staff and residents in a care home. She tried to tell social workers about the sexual abuse but was never believed.
Carol’s dad had left their family home and her mum used to leave her on her own to go to the pub, often returning drunk with men.
read full account of Waynes experienceA teacher appointed himself as Wayne’s ‘protector’, then sexually abused him
Wayne was subjected to child sexual abuse at the hands of several perpetrators at the all-boys boarding school he attended.
The abuse he first experienced was by other pupils. Then a teacher who claimed he would protect Wayne also abused him.
read full account of Pauls experiencePaul was sexually abused by his mother and has been diagnosed with PTSD and borderline personality disorder
Paul had no recollection of the abuse he suffered as a very young child until he was in his late 30s. At that stage he had some psychotic episodes. His memory is now very fragmented.
He has been dealing with these issues for many years. Now he has disclosed them and received help he wants to ‘put things on the record’.
read full account of Olivars experienceOlivar says ‘What a traumatic long-term effect these things have – I’ve thought about it for over 50 years’
Olivar describes a distant relationship with his parents when he was a child.
He says ‘I think I was an obvious person for a child abuser to pick on’.
read full account of Cliffs experienceCliff says children in care need to be looked after and listened to
Cliff was arrested as a teenager for petty theft. As a result, social services obtained an interim care order and he was put into care and placed in a children’s home.
There were six boys in the dormitory in the home. One of them began bullying Cliff and made him perform sex acts on him. This abuse happened both in and around the home.