'I am no longer your victim': Woman faces abuser in Bristol court nearly 50 years on
A woman who says she has been left "scarred for life" has faced her childhood abuser in court decades after he "stole her innocence."
The woman, who is legally entitled to lifelong anonymity, is urging victims of non-recent abuse to come forward.
She reported the crimes, which had taken place around 50 years beforehand, after reading an article in 2018 about David Matthews, 66. At the time he had been jailed for 11 years and six months for a dozen similar offences he committed as an adult.
Matthews was then sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Friday, June 2, after pleading guilty to three sexual offences, all of which took place in the 1970s, while he was a teenager. Judge Julian Lambert said the impact of Matthews’ offending had been ‘severe’.
Matthews, formerly of Bath, was jailed for two years to be served consecutively after his previous sentence is completed. He will be on the sex offenders’ register too indefinitely.
"I am no longer your victim"
The woman who was abused by Matthews read a personal statement in court to explain how the abuse changed her life forever and ‘nowhere seemed safe’ as he was ‘manipulative’.
She said: “I was a child and yet I never felt comfortable in David Matthews’ presence. He was a very quiet man, he would stare at me and was not afraid to be touchy feely, sliding his hand up my skirt.
“I was an innocent child who should have been full of joy, yet inside I was screaming out for help, especially when things progressed.”
She went on to reveal that the abuse she was subjected to continues to affect her life.
She said: “Almost fifty years later and I remember the places where he abused me like photographs in my mind, I can remember his tobacco breath.
“He turned the bright, happy, and fun-loving little girl that I was into a secretive, introverted, stupidly submissive and very fearful girl. David Matthews stole my innocence and dignity; in fact, he stole my life and his actions have scarred me for life.
“I plucked up the courage and made that phone call to the police and five years later here we are. Through my life I have been to hell and back, been mentally destroyed, but today is like finishing a bad book, I can finally close the last chapter, the end.”
Addressing Matthews directly, she added: “You may feel hard done by being incarcerated but I would take your place anytime; I would much rather serve your time in jail because you gave me a life sentence of terror, misery, and mental trauma.
“I would like him to tell me why he would want to do the things that he did to me and that if he realised how damaging, terrorising and cruel his actions were, would he still have done them? If he knew how his actions wrecked my life and destroyed my sense of self-worth, would he have thought twice or is he just pure evil and would have acted upon his urges regardless?
“However, my life starts today, I am no longer your victim.”
Anyone who reports a sexual offence against them is legally entitled to remain anonymous, regardless of whether anyone is charged, appears in court or is convicted.
DS Ben Dallas said: “I would like to commend her for having the courage to come forward and report her experiences to the police, and for the strength that she has displayed throughout the course of this investigation.“This result illustrates the predatory nature of David Matthews whose sexual abuse of children spanned several decades.“Today also marks a new chapter in the life of the woman he abused when she was a child, who has shown great humility in wishing for her experiences to act as a springboard for others who have experienced sexual abuse to feel supported in coming forward and reporting to her police."