The presentation of victim impact statements is one of the most powerful and revealing parts of a child sexual abuse trial. Each
one is different, a unique voice speaking out, usually after decades of
painful, secretive silence. But there is a terrible consistency in the
effect the abuse had on these people's lives:
"I feel pain and self-hatred. I tried to obliterate it with alcohol." "I've lost my right to a normal life." "I can no longer trust anyone, I always wonder whether they will betray my trust the way my abuser did." "I didn't know who to trust, so I trusted no one." "It made my life the living embodiment of hell."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-13/reflections-from-frontline-in-the-war-on-catholic-child-abuse/8337528
"I feel pain and self-hatred. I tried to obliterate it with alcohol." "I've lost my right to a normal life." "I can no longer trust anyone, I always wonder whether they will betray my trust the way my abuser did." "I didn't know who to trust, so I trusted no one." "It made my life the living embodiment of hell."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-13/reflections-from-frontline-in-the-war-on-catholic-child-abuse/8337528
