World
Mar 11, 2010
Raped by Dad for 25 years
A posed picture of an abused woman. The ordeal started in 1981 when the daughters were aged eight and 10. At the start they were attacked every day, and later were raped two or three times a week, review documents revealed. -- ST PHOTO: MALCOLM MCLEOD
<!-- story content : start --> LONDON - TWO British women who were raped and abused by their father for over 25 years, becoming pregnant 18 times, won an apology on Wednesday from local authorities for failing to prevent the serial incest. In a case compared with that of Austria's notorious Josef Fritzl, the 56-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is serving a life jail term for raping his daughters, who had seven babies by their father. Details of the abuse were revealed in a so-called serious case review by local authorities, who accepted that 28 agencies and 100 officials had dealt with the family over 35 years.
'We want to apologise to the family at the heart of this case. It will be clear that we failed this family,' said Sue Fiennes, head of the Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board. 'This report will not make comfortable reading for any of the organisations concerned with the family. We are all committed to working relentlessly to do all we can to minimise the risk of this happening again.' 'Lessons are being learned by the agencies involved,' she added.
The ordeal started in 1981 when the daughters were aged eight and 10. At the start they were attacked every day, and later were raped two or three times a week, review documents revealed. If they refused the advances of their father - who called himself the 'gaffer', or boss - they would be punched, kicked and sometimes held in the flames of a gas fire. The case review showed that the family moved home 67 times over a 35-year period so that the father could avoid detection. -- AFP
Mar 11, 2010
Raped by Dad for 25 years
A posed picture of an abused woman. The ordeal started in 1981 when the daughters were aged eight and 10. At the start they were attacked every day, and later were raped two or three times a week, review documents revealed. -- ST PHOTO: MALCOLM MCLEOD
<!-- story content : start --> LONDON - TWO British women who were raped and abused by their father for over 25 years, becoming pregnant 18 times, won an apology on Wednesday from local authorities for failing to prevent the serial incest. In a case compared with that of Austria's notorious Josef Fritzl, the 56-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is serving a life jail term for raping his daughters, who had seven babies by their father. Details of the abuse were revealed in a so-called serious case review by local authorities, who accepted that 28 agencies and 100 officials had dealt with the family over 35 years.
'We want to apologise to the family at the heart of this case. It will be clear that we failed this family,' said Sue Fiennes, head of the Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board. 'This report will not make comfortable reading for any of the organisations concerned with the family. We are all committed to working relentlessly to do all we can to minimise the risk of this happening again.' 'Lessons are being learned by the agencies involved,' she added.
The ordeal started in 1981 when the daughters were aged eight and 10. At the start they were attacked every day, and later were raped two or three times a week, review documents revealed. If they refused the advances of their father - who called himself the 'gaffer', or boss - they would be punched, kicked and sometimes held in the flames of a gas fire. The case review showed that the family moved home 67 times over a 35-year period so that the father could avoid detection. -- AFP
