Winner of Australian Survivor, Mark Wales, has recently opened up about traumatic incidents from his childhood on Instagram.
TRIGGER WARNING: Child abuse and sexual assault
Winner of Australian Survivor Season 9, subtitled Blood V Water, Mark Wales, has recently opened up about childhood abuse he and his brother faced at the hands of his mother’s cousin, Richard Ernest Jackson. Wales took to Instagram to share the story of sexual abuse he and his brother went through from the cousin of their mother.
Wales’ key takeaways were that he hopes his story can help others come forward and that the process of getting justice can be more straightforward than you expect in some instances. Although, the role his celebrity status took in getting justice should not be dismissed as a factor.
“*Sensitive content warning: child sexual assault material*
This is a tough one for me to talk about but wanted to share this story. My brother and I were indecently assaulted in the mid-80s by a distant family member. This happened at a dairy farm in southwest WA. 34 years later, after having my own child and reflecting on what had happened, my brother and I decided to go to the police and lodge a statement. The accused was arrested and charged a short while later.
We weren’t aware when we went to the police that he had 4 prior convictions of similar nature.
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Two and half years after that we attended a trial and were cross-examined as witnesses in the presence of the accused.
After a three-day trial, the jury convicted 72-year-old Richard Ernest Jackson, a dairy farmer from Cookernup, guilty of three charges of aggravated indecent assault dealing with a child under 14. He’s been sentenced 2 years & 4 months.
What I feel is important to share:
For us the process of placing a complaint, was easy and straight forward. The whole process took about an hour. After that they police investigators did all the heavy lifting and the prosecutor produced an outstanding argument. All of this work was done by the state.
I share this story because I know there are plenty of people like my brother and I who thought too much time has passed and we would have no chance of holding perpetrators accountable.
To those people: I hope our case can show you otherwise. I hope, like us, you can bring them to court where they are judged by their peers, and like us, you can find closure for the injustice you experienced.
(A huge thanks to all the legal and police professionals that believed us and built the case, to my parents, brothers and my lovely wife for helping me the whole way).
The link to the full article is in my stories & swipe left for contact support number.”
