WASHINGTON
KING
[with video]
Susannah Frame, KING December 13, 2016
Two years ago at the age of 42, a woman who KING is identifying by the initials of A.W., took the step of sharing a secret she’d kept since the age of 10.
She decided it was time to tell her parents the truth about what really happened on the last day of third grade at St. John Catholic School in Seattle, and the trauma the event and aftermath had caused for so many years. In 1983, in the school janitor’s office, the long-time school employee didn’t just touch the little 10-year-old inappropriately. A.W. admitted that the janitor, Chuck Siddons, had raped her.
“As a child, after this I struggled. I began drinking and smoking. I struggled in high school. I had problems in high school, and my whole life I’ve carried a dark secret feeling guilty. You feel ashamed, you feel dirty,” said A.W.
After the assault, Siddons told the third grader to keep her mouth shut, but she didn’t. A.W. told her parents the man had put his hands on her private parts. They immediately called the police department. The janitor was arrested, fired from his job, pled guilty to indecent liberties and went to prison. According to A.W., the school appeared to move on.
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