Two years ago my mother's brother went to prison for rape of several children under the age of 16. The children were my mother and her sisters, my eldest sister, and a few other people. You don't realise until you're in that situation how much it tears people and families apart. I wasn't directly involved but it's still taken two years and a lot of therapy to come to terms with it. My degree suffered considerably. My relationship with my mother was incredibly strained; I avoided her phone calls and emails for 8 months because I couldn't get my head around it (we live 100 miles apart). It's only now that we're getting back on track.
Whether these allegations are true or not, and it's not for us to decide, it's an incredibly stressful time for both the accused and the alleged victims and their families. I hope they've all got great support because they're going to need it. I never thought it would affect me so severely, but hearing some of the evidence during the trial will stay with me for life. I still haven't accepted that those things happened, I just can't get my head around it, but I have to move on with my life; my mother and her sisters managed to, my sister managed to, so I have to move on somehow.
Reply With Quote