Labor Minister Tanya Plibersek admitted she wanted to kill the man who molested and sexually abused her daughter when she was first told of the horrific attacks.
Anna Coutts-Trotter, 23, was the victim of severe emotional, physical, financial and sexual abuse by a man she trusted when she was just a teenager.
She first met the man towards the end of year 10, when she was only 15, and quickly discovered that she spent most of her time with him.
But details later emerged of his alleged campaign of serious sexual assault and domestic violence, as well as controlling behavior and financial abuse.
Now Plibersek has revealed how his thoughts immediately turned to revenge after hearing details of the sickening abuse.
“Honestly, I wanted to kill him for hurting my son,” Ms Plibersek, the Environment and Water Minister, told the ABC’s Australian Story programme.
“I don’t hold anger because I think it holds me back,” Ms Coutts-Trotter tells Australian Story
Anna Coutts-Trotter co-founded The Survivor Hub, a volunteer organization that helps “support, inform and empower people affected by sexual assault.”
Ms Coutts-Trotter is now helping other victims after co-founding The survivor centera volunteer organization that helps “support, inform and empower people affected by sexual assault.”
“I don’t hold anger because I think it holds me back,” Ms Coutts-Trotter told the programme, broadcast on Monday night.
“I felt loved, I felt like he cared about me.”
But that love turned into abuse, he revealed.
‘I experienced pretty much every type of abuse you can imagine. “I suffered physical and emotional abuse,” Ms Coutts-Trotter said.
She hid the abuse from her family, but He finally broke his silence.
She said she was relieved to tell her parents. ‘They were a great support. They didn’t ask too many questions. I never felt like they didn’t understand,” she said.
Coutts-Trotter was questioned in court for three days about the abuse that attacked every aspect of her personality and character, she said.
“I felt like I was being deliberately misrepresented as someone I wasn’t,” she told the show.
The man was found guilty of assault, but acquitted of the other charges against him.
It was later revealed that he had previously been convicted of similar crimes against other girls, but had never been imprisoned.
After the verdict, the politician’s daughter says she climbed into bed with her mother and father, Michael Coutts-Turner, “…and cried for a long time,” she said.
Having lived through her daughter’s horrific experience, Mrs Plibersek hopes that victims of domestic abuse will receive greater support.
Ms. Plibersek and her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter admire their daughter’s commitment to her work with The Survivor Hub.
Coutts-Trotter said she was inspired to found The Survivor Hub after meeting Bek, another abuse victim she met in court while awaiting trial.
“Even though Bek was a complete stranger to me, I felt like she understood me better than anyone,” Mrs. Coutts-Trotter said.
Her father, the former head of the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, added: “It’s no surprise this could happen to our daughter.”
‘If a person is willing to use coercion and violence to get what they want and has the ability to manipulate, it can happen to anyone.
‘The defense can and does use any and all tactics.
‘[But] the insights you get from traveling through the justice system with someone you love are different… It feels like it’s not a fair fight.”
Having lived through her daughter’s experience, Mrs Plibersek hopes that victims of domestic abuse will receive greater support.
“We keep talking about how we’re going to change the legal system…how we’re going to better support victims,” he said.
He continues: ‘Why don’t we ask ourselves: why is there such a high incidence of sexual assault and domestic violence and how do teenagers behave this way?’
‘How is it acceptable for violence and control to be used in these young relationships?’
Plibersek and her husband told the show how much they admire their daughter’s commitment to her work with The Survivor Hub.
Mrs. Plibersek added: “As much as I worry as a mother, as a woman, I admire what she is doing.”