Cape Town – “I have had years of therapy, counselling and psychologist visits simply
to be able to survive. My entire adult
life has been punctuated by emotional,
psychological and nervous disorders.”
These were the words of 60-year-old Claudine Shiels on the lifetime
effects of the sexual abuse she and her
sister Lisa van der Merwe, 56, suffered
in their childhood.
The sisters are currently involved in
the oldest sex abuse case to go to trial
in South Africa.
They were sexually
abused, allegedly by relatives, from
1974 to 1979. But it was only after the
Cabinet approved the introduction
of a bill last year, aimed at amending
the Criminal Procedure Act to enable
sexual offences to be prosecuted retrospectively, that the sisters decided
to seek justice.
The case comes before the Wynberg
Magistrate’s Court today.
The accused, who have yet to
plead to indecent assault charges, are
understood to be from a prominent
Constantia family.
NPO Women and Men Against Child
Abuse (WMACA) yesterday held a
media conference with the sisters to
discuss the case and the lifelong effects
of childhood sexual abuse.
“The sexual abuse affected
everything in my life. I don’t remember any of my childhood without
abuse on some level and I still don’t
fully understand my value as a person,” Van der Merwe said.
She had tried to end her life twice
and ran away at the age of 17.
WMACA director Miranda Jordan
said: “The psychological trauma is lifelong and the court must take this into
account in historical cases.
“Many victims are not able to
move on even though society says
you should. When the abuse occurs,
the perpetrators give no thought to
how it would affect the victims’ lives.
"The effects are long-lasting, they steal
your childhood and adulthood. For a
child, your home is your world and
children are aware that if they report it
the family might say you have broken
and shamed the family.
“We are here to say we will support
survivors and it is never too late to
come forward.”
On why the sisters have now
decided to come forward, Shiels said:
“It wasn’t that long ago, I am still
living that trauma now.
"I was told I
was a worthless nobody with a female
body to make use of. My dreams of becoming a journalist have been unfulfilled because my
life became about survival.
"I had my
first nervous breakdown in my early
twenties. I am never going to heal
until someone takes responsibility for
what they did.”