'All sex abuse victims must be believed' say North East charity
Charity say lessons must be learnt after footballer Adam Johnson is found guilty of three child sex offences.
A North East charity delivering sex education says victims of sexual abuse should expect to come forward and be believed.
It’s after footballer Adam Johnson has been found guilty of sexual activity with a child.
The former Sunderland and Middlebrough player had already pleaded guilty to two other charges, and was cleared of a fourth.
But his victim said she was made out to be a liar. The 15 year old said:
“From the very beginning of all of this I always doubted that people would believe me.
- “I felt used and let down by him. It’s been the hardest year of my life and I’ve had to face so much abuse after he claimed his innocence. I was made out to be a liar, if anything, I held things back because I didn’t want all of this to come out.*
“There are people out there who have made assumptions about me and that alone has been hard to deal with. I have been unable to defend myself publically. The gossip on social media and hearing all of the horrible names that people have been calling me has been devastating to me, my friends and my family. People were lying about me and what I had said.
“They don’t understand the impact their words can have on someone. Him being found guilty, shows everyone I was telling the truth. I hope people can see that everything is not always as it first seems and opinions should only be based on facts and not on rumours.”
Evaluate Tees Valley holds sessions on sex and relationship education in primary and secondary schools in County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire.
Project manager, Annalise Higgins, says the conviction should set an example that victims will be believed. She said:
“The worst things about situations like this is the fear that we’ll get locked into. We worry about how people are going to react to us, we worry about if people are going to believe us… actually it is just the fear. We need to break through that, speak out and ask for help if we need it.”
“It is always ok to go and talk to somebody, a trusted adult, whether that is a teacher, a family friend, ChildLine, rape crisis centres or the police. It is always ok for people to step out and speak up.”
Find out more information and get help using these links: