A Non-Recent Child Sexual Abuse: Restorative Justice Case Study

The victim in this non-recent child sexual abuse case is a 56-year-old woman called Lisa. Her father sexually abused her for 2 months when she was 14. After an ‘accidental’ disclosure, the victim’s father was arrested, charged, and convicted of serious sexual assault of a young person. 

Our team met up with Lisa - she said she wanted to meet her father to face him about the abuse. She hadn’t seen him for 20 years.

Detailed and extensive preparation work and risk assessment were undertaken by our team before we held the conference. Then, we had a meeting where Lisa had the opportunity to face her father and question him over the abuse, including challenging his ‘memory’ of it. 

After the meeting was over, Lisa said: “It was like taking a big black cloud from over me and putting it over him.”

She's said on numerous occasions how helpful the meeting was and has gone on to present on the positive outcome to police officers. Lisa is going to be doing a Practitioner Training course in the next 6 weeks and will volunteer as a Restorative Justice Practitioner!