A WOMAN who was sexually abused by a paedophile does not want them to be named and shamed. She was drugged and abused from the ages of four to 11, but disagrees with offenders’ details being made public.
‘Fair enough the police, but not the public because people would go around beating paedophiles up and causing trouble for their families,’ said the woman.
‘I didn’t even agree with it when James Brehaut’s name appeared in the paper.
‘I think people should give them a fair chance to get treatment and help before condemning them.’
The woman, who is now in her 40s and does not want to be named, suffered sexual abuse each day for seven years.
A paedophile who lived in the same building as her family had access to chloroform and would drug her regularly.
‘My father was very violent and this man told me that if I said anything, he would get killed and I would have to live with that for the rest of my life.
‘Even as an adult I could not have coped with that, so I kept quiet and it went on for years until we moved out.’
But despite that, and after years of counselling and therapy, the woman does not want revenge by naming and shaming paedophiles.
People calling for this were ignorant, she said, and it angered her more than when she thought about the abuse she’d been through as a child.
‘I just feel sorry for them. It happened to me and there is nothing I can do about that,’ she said.
‘Yes, they are paedophiles, but they are also human beings. If we publicise them, we might as well give them the death sentence.’
The police and other agencies should perhaps have some kind of register to exchange information, she said, but a public one could have disastrous consequences.
‘If someone is sexually attracted to children, they might be put off getting help if they thought they were going to be exposed.
‘Also, children might not come forward for the same reason. It has the potential to make things so much worse.’
Paedophilia was a vicious circle whereby abusers had often been sexually molested themselves as children, she said.
‘It carries on through families in this way. The only way to stop it is to break the cycle and get them to come forward.
‘But they will never do that if they are persecuted. They will only go underground.’
*Guernsey Press editor Richard Digard said that after careful consideration the newspaper had decided not to publish a photograph it has of paedophile James Brehaut.
‘It is a complex issue and we have been struck by the powerful arguments put forward on both sides,’ he said.
‘However, on balance we have decided that because this man has been released into the community it would not at this stage be appropriate to publish his image.’
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