AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
March 28, 2014
Paul Bibby
Court Reporter
A woman who was repeatedly sexually abused by a Salvation Army officer from the age of four later watched in horror as her mother married the man, the Royal Commission has heard.
The abuse survivor’s mother then kicked her out of the family home, claiming the allegations against her new husband were lies.
The woman, known as JD, said she was first molested by the officer at the age of four, not long after she was formally brought into the Salvation Army through a “dedication ceremony”.
About 14 years later, after suffering more abuse at the officer’s hands, JD learned the man was about to become her stepfather.
“I remember around Christmas my mother told me that she was going to marry him,” the woman, now 40, told the Commission.
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