Girl had nowhere to escape rapist dad

The child abuse royal commission has heard a woman was raped by her father for 27 years despite seeking help from social workers.

An image visualising abuse

(AAP) Source: AAP

The girl felt safe in the Victorian youth training centre because she was away from her rapist father.

That was shattered when the authorities allowed the man to visit the 15-year-old at Winlaton in 1979 where, as a youth worker sat nearby, he threatened her to keep her mouth shut.

"To this day I still consider the day my father visited me as one of the greatest betrayals of my life," witness BGD told the child abuse royal commission on Thursday.

"His visit made me feel like there was nowhere to escape from him."

BGD was given regular contraceptive injections by the staff at Winlaton, whom she told about the rapes, the commission heard.

She also told social workers numerous times about the incest.

Social worker Jennifer Mitchell wrote to the father in 1979, stating: "You both seem to care very much for each other.

"...None of us want to make you feel bad, but we do want (BGD) to feel better about her relationship with you."

BGD said she was appalled by the letter.

"The letter suggested I was partially responsible for him raping me rather than me being the victim," she said.

"I still feel as though the department blamed me for everything that happened and has treated me like a perpetrator, not a victim."

Ms Mitchell told the commission BGD was her main concern when she wrote the letter.

She said she was inexperienced and did not report the incest to police although she believed BGD.

BGD was raped by her father for 27 years, from the time she was 13 until she turned 41.

"I feel deeply saddened by that," Ms Mitchell said.

"I do think there's a chain of people that failed her."

BGD had four children, one of whom died soon after birth, to her father and suffered two miscarriages.

She said the youth workers at Winlaton did not believe she was telling the truth about the rapes and thought she was responsible or to blame.

"I was just a frightened kid who didn't know what to do, or how to handle the situation and I was looking to professionals for help.

"I am also confused about why no one from the department contacted the police."

She spent her childhood in various homes and institutions, but her father still had access to her.

Her state wardship ended when she was 17 and she was sent back to her parents.

"After all the cries for help I made to so-called professionals within the department, I was put back in the situation I was trying to escape," BGD said.

A counsellor reported the abuse in 2002, but BGD said the police were judgmental.

"I felt as though I was back in the cycle of crying out for help, but not being believed."

BGD later made a complaint to police and her father was jailed in 2010 for a minimum of 18 years.


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Source: AAP


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