A little more than 22 years since she was last raped, a woman finally told her abuser: ‘‘It’s no longer my shame.’’
''With the support of my loving husband and kids, I’ll get through this . . . hopefully, the nightmares and the flashbacks will fade ,
‘‘It’s your shame,’’ she told him as the man stood in the dock at the Dunedin District Court last week.
‘‘It’s time for people to know who you really are.’’
And after having name suppression throughout the case’s progression through court, the 44-year-old man who sexually violated the victim countless times over eight years can finally be unmasked.
Kenneth Rex Murdoch, of Dunedin, admitted 17 representative sex charges, which included seven types of criminal act and 11 locations and encompassed a variety of threats to coerce her into complying with his demands.
Defence counsel Meg Scally argued her client’s name should be kept permanently under wraps but Judge Kevin Phillips was swayed in part by the brave words of the victim.
‘‘I don’t want you to have name suppression,’’ she told the court.
‘‘I don’t care if people work out who I am.’’
The woman spoke eloquently, through tears, about the impact of the ordeal on her life.
She left school at 15, unable to focus on her studies in the midst of the sexual nightmare.
There had been eight suicide attempts, she said, the last in the form of an attempted overdose two years ago.
Her survival gave her the impetus to finally come forward about the historic sexual abuse, which began in 1986.
But the trauma continued.
‘‘My first ACC payment made me feel like a government-paid whore for you,’’ the woman said.
Her deep-seated mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, had seen her separate from her husband five times.
But she was keen to pay tribute to her family, who had stuck by her.
‘‘With the support of my loving husband and kids, I’ll get through this . . . hopefully, the nightmares and the flashbacks will fade,’’ the victim said.
‘‘You’ve ruled my life way too long.’’
The court heard the graphic details of the offending, most of which are too explicit to be published.
Judge Kevin Phillips stressed the ‘‘inherent violence’’ involved in the acts Murdoch committed and also the chilling threats he issued.
At times, the defendant would threaten to kill the woman and on other occasions he would say he was going to burn her house down should she not accede to his sordid demands.
The judge said some of the abuse was framed in such a way that Murdoch made it into a game.
‘‘Catch and rape,’’ was one of them, he said.
Murdoch had ‘‘limited’’ previous convictions and none for sex crimes, the court heard.
udge Phillips jailed him for four years and 11 months.
As for the victim, she was determined to start a new chapter of her life.
‘‘You know the old saying: ‘fake it till you make it’?’’ she said.
‘‘Well I’m no longer faking it and I’m going to make it.’’