A young woman has opened up on how an online predator groomed and blackmailed her into performing explicit acts before he sexually assaulted her in her own home at the age of 13.
The harrowing ordeal had a devastating toll on Rhiannon* (not her real name), who plunged into a hole of depression and self harm where she tried taking her own life twice.
The amount of child sexual abuse material online has soared worldwide in the 10 years since Rhiannon’s traumatic experience.
Australia’s Office of the eSafety Commissioner has detected a 70 per cent rise in child sexual abuse material material in the last 12 months alone with more people online at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rhiannon said the harrowing ordeal of being sexually assaulted in her own home at had a life changing effect.
Rhiannon (pictured) now 23, says she was groomed online before she was sexually assaulted in her own home by an online predator 10 years ago
‘It’s changed who I am,’ the British-born woman, now 23, told SBS program Dateline.
‘I had depression and I used to self-harm. I took an overdose and I tried to kill myself twice. I had real anger issues.’
‘I was just angry that this happened to me. It never should have happened.’
Rhiannon was barely a teenager when she began chatting online with a man posing as a young female model, wanting to exchange photos.
‘She said I was really pretty, and I could be a model like her,’ she recalled.
Rhiannon became hesitant when the ‘model’ began requesting topless photos of her.
‘I didn’t want to do it at first but she spent ages telling me that it was fine, it was okay, it was no big deal, everyone does it,’ she said.
‘She made me feel like it was okay to do it so eventually I did send her a topless photo. And then everything changed.’
She claims she was then asked to send videos of herself performing sexually explicit acts, which were then used to blackmail Rhiannon.
Rhiannon (pictured) says the harrowing ordeal changed her as a person
‘She said if I didn’t do that, she was going to make sure all my friends and family saw the topless photo of me,’ she said.
‘That was really terrifying for me so I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice but to do what she was telling me to do.’
She claims the blackmail and threats worsened as the ‘model’ pressured Rhiannon into meeting up at the teen’s home.
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‘I initially said no to her and wasn’t going to give out my address. And then she threatened me, saying she was going to release all the material that she had,’ Rhiannon said.
‘So eventually I did give in because I didn’t know what else to do.’
It’s only when the pair met up that Rhiannon realised the young female model she thought she was talking to online was a man.
‘I was too terrified to do or to say anything at that point,’ she said.
‘He sexually assaulted me at home and he took pictures of everything.’
A decade on, Rhiannon still has no idea how widely the photos of her were circulated.
Australia’s Office of the eSafety Commissioner has detected a 70 per cent rise in child sexual abuse material material in the last 12 months alone (stock image)
The Australian eSafety Commissioner’s Cyber Report team continues to respond to the rise in reports from the public and law enforcement authorities about prohibited online content and works with international partners to get online child sexual abuse material taken down.
‘Here, too, there was a significant increase in workload during the COVID-19 pandemic, as those who produce and circulate this horrendous material online sought to take advantage of unique opportunities,’ Commissioner Julie Inman Grant wrote in October.
The Commissioner’s office is also behind a world-first government-led reporting service for victims who have had their intimate images shared, or threatened to be shared, without their consent.
‘There was a significant increase in these reports, and sextortion scams continued to be a prominent concern for our team, with a large spike recorded during the COVID-19 lockdown period,’ Ms Inman Grant added.
The UK’s National Police Chiefs’ Council for Child Protection boss says the rise of online child sex abuse material is ‘one of the greatest threats to society and one of the greatest policing challenges, certainly that we are facing.’
Experts say the amount of child sexual abuse material online has soared worldwide in the wake on the pandemic 12 months ago (stock image)
‘The latest statistics show that UK police are arresting over 700 men every month, safeguarding 900 children but the number of jobs continue to grow and grow and grow,’ Chief Constable Simon Bailey told Dateline.
Rhiannon bravely shared her story in the hope other teens aren’t lured into a similar traumatic ordeal she went went.
‘If I’d had that message when I was younger, maybe I would have felt more able to speak out about it,’ she said.
Watch Rhiannon’s harrowing story on Dateline 9.30pm Tuesday on SBS.
If you or anyone you know needs confidential support, call Lifeline 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline (for ages 5-25) on 1800 55 1800.
Source: Daily Mail
