Sydney - An Australian teenage girl has been officially granted a divorce from her mother after claiming she was forced to have sex with men for money since the age of 10.
The 17-year-old, identified only as Kaye, is the first child in New South Wales state to gain a divorce from a parent under new laws allowing the courts to make a determination when irreconcilable differences make it impossible for child and parents to live together.
Granting the divorce, magistrate Elaine Truscott cited the girl's troubled past.
"The young child had been subjected to significant and horrendous sexual abuse, apparently with the knowledge and involvement of her natural mother," she said.
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Outside the court, Kaye said she had dreamed of the divorce for four years. She would not speak to her mother again.
She said she was considering civil action against her mother and the men who abused her.
"To the men who have done these things to me, I will never forgive or forget what you have done."
Police in New South Wales investigated her case but failed to gain enough evidence for a criminal prosecution, although it was confirmed that Kaye had been abused from an early age.
A 14-year-old Melbourne boy is the youngest person in Australia to have divorced his parents.
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This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Times on November 19, 2004
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