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RAPIST DAD: Mother turned blind eye to years of harm
THE one person who could have saved the girls from decades of abuse and misery turned a blind eye and walked away, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, said it was believed the girls' mother knew her daughters were being abused by their father but did nothing to help.
As part of the police probe into her husband's abuse she was arrested on suspicion of child cruelty but no charges were ever brought against her.
Mr Campbell told Sheffield Crown Court the first time the oldest daughter got pregnant the teenager lied about the identity of the father but said she believes her mother eventually realised what was going on but chose to do nothing about it.
He said: "She recalls one day when she was sitting with the defendant on her parents' bed when her mother walked in and told her to get off the bed.
"She believes her mother knew but that belief was no comfort, rather it got to her - no-one talked about it and the family secret remained a secret."
The Star Says: Horror beyond comprehension
The younger daughter said even though her mother did her washing she never asked about blood on her clothes after her virginity was robbed when she was still a child.
When she was 13 or 14 she endured a miscarriage at home, where she claimed her mother saw the foetus in the toilet and flushed it away without asking who the father was.
That same year she suffered a second miscarriage while on a family holiday and on both occasions she told police her mum had known but did not get her any medical help.
When she got pregnant again she claimed her mother tried to get her an abortion but the pregnancy was too far developed and her mum ended up punching her in her stomach.
The family speak out: WHEN a little girl draws clumsy, crayoned pictures of the monsters that come into her bedroom at night, somebody surely should question why.
She told police that when the baby was born her mother went to hospital with her and collapsed when medics began asking whether the baby's father was her own father.
Mr Campbell said: "Someone in the hospital asked whether the father of the child was her own father. The daughter was terrified and she denied it.
"Her mother was present and she collapsed on the floor crying out 'no, it can't be true', but at no time did she ask her daughter questions about the identity of her child's father."
The mother left the family home when her daughters were still teenagers, leaving them to the mercy of their father.
When interviewed by police over the summer Mr Campbell said the mother "denied any wrongdoing and spoke of her husband's domination of family life and his violence".
Recorder Goldsack QC, sentencing the rapist, said: "Your wife clearly became aware of what was going on but did nothing to assist her daughters. She could have alerted the authorities but did not."
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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Wind direction: East
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Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
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