Latest / Real Crime with Adam Shand / Breaking the Silence: Victoria’s Story

Transcript

Breaking the Silence: Victoria’s Story · Real Crime with Adam Shand

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Apoche Production.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Real Crime with Adam Shand. I'm your host,
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Adam Shand. Today's episode is about courage. The courage it
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: takes not only to survive sexual violence, but to confront
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: the person responsible in court and then reclaim ownership of
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: one's own story. My guest, Victoria, was raped by Kent
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Albert Stevenson. her former partner and the father of her children.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: But as is often the case, this was more than
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: just sexual violence. It was control, coercion, debasement and humiliation.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Stevenson was ultimately convicted, but reaching that verdict required Victoria
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: to endure the scrutiny, distress and deeply personal exposure of
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: a criminal trial. The whole thing took three long years.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: She even waived her right to anonymity in the court
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: process because she wanted the truth about what happened to
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: be heard. Throughout this ordeal, Victoria was supported by a
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: new loving partner, Grant, who stood beside her through thick
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: and thin. And the case had a further extraordinary consequence.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Recognised disturbing parallels in her own experience and also went
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: to police, leading to further charges against him. This is
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: a story about violence and betrayal, but more importantly, it's
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: about courage, love and the power one woman's decision to
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: speak can give to another. And today we hear that
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: story in Victoria's own words. Welcome to both Victoria and Grant.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Have I summed that up okay?
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's good.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Yep. How did this all begin? How did you meet
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Kent Albert Stevenson?
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Just locally, going out. I'd known him for quite some
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: time before we actually got together. Just from around, just
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: from going down the local hotel and playing pool. Yeah,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: he was just there. So I had known him for
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: quite a few years before anything happened.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: And you had no inkling of his controlling, nasty personality
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: under the surface of this amiable, tradie guy? No.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: He always came across as the good guy, like that
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: everyone liked, that everyone relied on, that he'd always be
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: doing things for other people. He just came across as
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: the good guy all the time.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: And so you took the decision to strike up a
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: loving partnership with him.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: And you had two children. Yeah. When did the warning
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: signs begin for you?
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: Probably, in all reality, looking back on it, before I
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: had kids, really, but especially after I had the kids,
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: that's when things started to, started to turn, and his,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: he was, his drinking became worse, his pressure to have
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: sex became much more intense, and that really, yeah, that
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: was really after I had the kids, after he, he
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: lost all the attention, the attention went to the kids,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: and Yeah, then he started behaving in that way.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: And it was largely about sex, but sex is never
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: really just about the sex. It's the control and dominance
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: and coercion, the loss of your will and, I guess,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: your identity in some ways.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he had the pressure on full noise. It was
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: a lot of pressure all the time, all the time. Relentless.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: It was relentless. Yes.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Now, before we get too much further, introduce Grant here. Now, Grant,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: you came on the scene before the charges were laid
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: and Victoria had separated from the perpetrator, as I'll call
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: him from this point on. You had no idea about this.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Tell me, how did the discussion come up about the desperate,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: dark place Victoria was in?
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so we met on online dating and... We'd probably
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: spoke for probably eight to ten weeks. We'd never met.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: We'd just sort of come into each life, you know,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: day by day, texting to see how each other were going.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: And we made that decision that because we both had
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: children that, you know, if we were to meet, you know,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: there's other things involved. And so we met. We hit
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: it off. Everything was good. At the end of our weekend,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: she explained to me that there was a bit of
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: stuff going on.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Some baggage. Everyone's got baggage. Yeah.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah especially yeah at our age there's always some baggage
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: going on this was about some just some problems with
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: an ex-partner and she needed an AVO I was a
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: little bit scared with some different stuff so she said
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: look I'm going to go the the Dangan police station
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: and I'm just going to apply for an AVO so
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I said okay no worries so I waited out the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: front and Yeah, I went out the front and she,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I know it was about an hour, hour and a half.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: And I come back and she really wasn't, she was
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: quite white, I remember, and just being quite, I think,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: taken back from the whole ordeal. But it wasn't just
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: that that went on. So we went for a walk.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: She explained to me that in one of the questions
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to gain an AVO, one of the questions is, did
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: sexual assault occur? And she explained to me that she
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: had to be honest and say yes. They asked if
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: she would like to do anything now. She said no.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: So she came out and had to tell me that.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Then she explained to me that she said yes. So
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: I remember a pause in our talking and I remember
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: just saying to her, so do you mean rave? And
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: she said yes. So there was quite a bit of, yeah,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I just remember silence and not knowing really Where to go?
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: We were brand new. We had just met and had
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: a weekend together.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. I mean, a lot of blokes would be
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: going like, you know what? I think I've got to
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: be somewhere else at that moment. But you're made of
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: sterner stuff, which I think is fantastic because the internet
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: dating world is full of spineless turds, actually. Sorry for
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: those who are internet dating, but a lot of women
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: say that. But you decided that you were going to
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: support Victoria, and I guess you must have been nervous.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: You're here with potentially a new partner, and you've got
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: all this stuff built up, which he had no idea.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: No, well, we were just on our date, and in
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: the background I'm getting messages and phone calls and everything,
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: like just one after the other from Kent.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: What was he saying?
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Oh, just like, where are you? Why aren't you, why
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: aren't you at home? Where have you been? I've been
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: in the house, basically gone into the house and seen
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: that I haven't slept there. So wanting to know where
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: I am. And then I find out that from my
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: neighbor that he's been driving past day and night to
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: check if I'm there. And I'm like, oh my God. So,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: so I decided that there was like no other option,
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: but to get an intervention order because he was still
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: going into the house and and basically harassing me. So
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: this is going on in the background of our date,
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: hence why I ended up going and getting an intervention
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: order to stop him.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: And you did something which sounds a bit funny now,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: but I think it's an important thing when you're starting
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: a new relationship, total honesty and get things out on
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: the table. You gave Grant literally a get out of
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: jail free card from Monopoly.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: I did, yes. Just with everything that was going on,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: I said to him, yeah, here's a get out of
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: jail free card. so you can just walk away at
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: any time.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: That's fantastic. What did you think of that, mate? Have
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: you still got it?
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's still on my phone. Yeah, I still have
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: it to this day.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: And I'm sorry that its validity has now passed, so
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: you are locked in, my friend.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Yes, it's been for me before.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: But I mean, you've been in that dark, solitary place
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: where you don't know what to do. You've got the
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: perpetrator's kids there. You're looking after them. You're trying to
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: think for them.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: You're trying to work out am I crazy here? Should
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: I have just kept quiet and gone on with this?
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: So how important was it to have someone like Grant
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: who could say, you're not crazy and I'll stick with
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: you no matter how long it takes?
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was very important. I don't know if I
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: would have gone through with it if it wasn't for him, really.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Because going through the process of actually walking into Socket
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: and making a statement and I actually made it. couple
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: of statements but yeah the first one it was it
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: was really nerve-wracking and you go through all the things
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: like are they going to believe me is it going
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: to be enough to do anything yeah you just don't
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: know so having him there in the background was yeah
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: it was a big deal.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Because it's um one of those things where if you
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: take a shot at someone like this metaphorically you don't
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: want to miss yeah because your life can be turned
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: into a living hell if it wasn't already Yeah, my.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Biggest thing was that he was just so, he had
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: a large friendship group. Everyone thought he was fantastic. Everyone
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: thought he was this great guy. And I know that's
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: not what goes on behind closed doors, but no one
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: else knows that. So that was like my biggest thing
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: was that I wasn't going to be believed because of
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: the type of person that people believed him to be.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: And he could just blacken your name across all that
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: friend group and you'd be defenseless. He sounds like a
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: psychopath to me.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, which he did. And he let people read the
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: brief and the brief of evidence. And he just did
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: really yuck things, really.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Just had to destroy you and your credibility.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Let's track back a bit. So you have two kids
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: with him.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: And the demands for sex become intolerable.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: And I guess at different times you're giving in just
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: to keep the peace.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Like many hundreds of times.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: And I think there are a lot of women out
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: there who know exactly where you were in that moment.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: But then you get ill. You get a brain tumor.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: And it doesn't stop. Yeah.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah. It keeps going. It gets worse. It gets worse.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: And for you, how was that experience? You had surgery
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: and all that kind of thing?
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I had brain surgery at the Royal Melbourne. And, yeah,
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: they got all the tumor out. And I get scanned
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: every year so far. so good it's all all clear
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: so everything went well in that regards but at the
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: time I had like the worst headaches just had a
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: I just had a headache for a year and a
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: half it was just ridiculous so the constant harassment from
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: him just added to that whole I was not in
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: a good place when I had the brain tumour.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: So him trying to still be there for the kids,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: not trying, I didn't want the kids to know exactly
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: what was going on. I didn't want them or didn't
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: want to scare them, but I had to be realistic
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: and let them know that I did have it and
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: if something happened, then it happened, we'd deal with it.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: But him in the background, well, he was no help
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: at all, not with anything. He didn't help with the kids.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: He didn't help. me with anything he just basically lived
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: his own life you know going to the pub.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: And and helped himself to you like he was entitled
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: like it.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah like well as he said it's.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: My job your job was to service his needs.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah that was my job what.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Centuries what centuries it's like living in yeah yeah and
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: also no carried consequences for you for your children remarkably
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: yeah what would he do when you would say no
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: It would.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: Go in a bit of a cycle of I would
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: say no. He'd then start harassing me heavily, harassing me.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: I'd still say no. He'd get angry. He'd take it
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: out on the kids. Once he started to take it
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: out on the kids and he got to a certain...
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: He'd always get to a certain point where he'd say
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: enough is enough. And for me, I never went past
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: that point. So for me, that was... cut off that
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: was whatever he wanted I was doing and that's how
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: it went and then he'd be all right for a
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: couple of days and then he'd be harassing again did.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: You have anyone to talk to about at that.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Time I hadn't yeah my best friend I spoke to
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: her about it and she always just said to me
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: it's just so wrong like what he does is so
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: wrong but what I mean what do you do how
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: do you How do you stop it? You've got to
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: get him, like I tried to get him out of
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: a house several times over the years, and he would
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: literally just say, I'm not going anywhere. And with no
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: one to help, with no support, how do you actually
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: make someone leave?
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah. Absolutely, wow. I'm sure people can identify with
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: this story. And if you've been in the same place,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: let me know, adamshanderwriter at gmail.com. Because your friend saying
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: it's wrong, it's more than wrong, it's illegal.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: And what he was doing was raping you.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: What about your mum, your other family?
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: There was no support from them, no, unfortunately.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: They expected you to play the dutiful partner.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was what I should have done, yeah, when
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: he finally left. And my mum even just said to me,
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: you should have just waited, just bided your time, and
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: I just thought... Wait for what?
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately, I don't want to be alarmist here, but
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: a lot of women wait and then it gets much
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: worse and can end in homicide.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: That actually is. And that's a sad reality of domestic
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: violence in this day and age, is that some men
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: are just living in a different era, a different century,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: and they do believe this is their entitlement.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: And I didn't see it like that, really. It was
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Grant who sort of pointed that out to me to say,
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: if you didn't leave when you did, you and the
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: kids wouldn't be here.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: You finally did get him out, though. How did you
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: do that?
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: I did get him out. So after my brain surgery,
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: I don't even really know how, but I had decided
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: that once I'd recovered from my brain surgery, which took
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: about five weeks, that I just wanted him out and gone.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: So I basically just stood up to him and just said,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: I want you to leave. I don't want you here anymore.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: And he actually left, but I think he left thinking
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: that he was coming back. but it was only temporary.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: It was a blowover. She'll come to her senses.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, something like that. So, yeah.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: You wonder about this sort of a bloke, right? Does
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: he not have anybody next to him? You're saying, what's
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: happening in your life, mate? Is everything okay at home?
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Was he giving any outward signs? Did anybody in his
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: friend circle say to you, listen, I'm a bit worried
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: about Kent?
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: No one said anything.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: No, and he's just going on his merry way.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: Just happily everyone thinks he's this good bloke who's, helping
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: them fix their cars and mow their lawns and doing
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: all the good things like that a good friend would do.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: And really he was, he was not that. And that
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: was the biggest thing that I was worried about is
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: that people wouldn't see past, past that, that person that
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: everyone believed him to be.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: He's out, but his shadow is still over your life.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: To the point where your little boy had to run
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: around locking doors and, closing curtains because he feared his father.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: This is his own father.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: Yes, yeah.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: He's stalking his mother.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: Unfortunately, when I had my brain tumour, there were times
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: when I'd be asleep or just like with a headache,
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: had taken painkillers and was laying down. And unfortunately, Kent
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: took that upon himself to take it out on my son.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: So that's physically take it out on him.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: He beat up his own kid.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah. He manipulated my daughter, as in just always trying
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: to get information, like where's your mum been, who's she
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: been with, things like that. He never physically did anything
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: to her that we know of that she said. But
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: my son most definitely, and he actually made a report
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: to Socket himself, which didn't unfortunately go anywhere. It was
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: basically a bit of a, it's just really, really shit parenting.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: There's nothing we can actually charge him with, but he
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: felt much better after going to socket himself and telling
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: the detective.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: As a little boy?
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: And nothing happened?
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Nothing happened.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Were you interviewed?
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: I wasn't interviewed, no. Just him.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: A lot of responsibility on his shoulders, just trying to
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: help his mum.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Trying to be strong for his mum.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: What a little champion you've got there.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah. He's a good boy. He's a good boy. And
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: I didn't know a lot of the things that were
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: going on, so... He was under the impression that I
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: knew what was going on, like that he was getting
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: hit and stuff. But actually I didn't know because I
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: was either in bed or wherever at appointments or whatever.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: So we had a period, I suppose, of about a
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: year where we'd left and gotten away from Kent, but
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: my son thought that I knew what Kent did to
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: him and I didn't know. If I did know, I
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: would never have let that, like that happened to him
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: so I had to sit down and explain to him
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: that you know I'd had the brain tumor and for
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: a long time and there was times where they didn't
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: know about the brain tumor when I had it because
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: I didn't tell them about it until I actually went
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: in for surgery and that yeah I was just unaware
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: of what was going on and that I would never
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: let anything happen to him but unfortunately it It did,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: but he got to tell his story to Socket, and
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: in his mind that was a good thing.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, breaking some silence, but I think there should have
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: been action, and I'd be interested to know on what
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: basis the detective or whoever he dealt with just said, no,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: it's just a family matter. You see, that's the old
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: school attitude. It's just a family matter. They'll sort it
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: out themselves. And unfortunately, like I said before, these things
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: end up in tragedy far too often. We're seeing that
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: across this country every week. It's shocking.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So how long after you kicked the perpetrator out did
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: you meet Grant here?
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Maybe about five months. Is that about right?
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, five, six months.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: Probably about five months later we started talking, yeah.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: And I'd imagine that was a period of indecision and
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: anxiety and Yeah, look.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: I was on an online dating service and I kept
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: putting my profile on and then taking it off and
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: then putting it on and taking it off and putting
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: it on and taking it off. I just couldn't. I
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: guess I was unhappy for just so long in that
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: relationship that it felt like it wasn't too soon to
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: try and find something else.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Now, Grant, you're a handsome, agreeable fellow with a good job. Lovely, mate.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: But I think your biggest advantage was that you weren't
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: the perpetrator. Let's face it, at the beginning. Yes. Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: And Victoria needed some... reassurance, some confidence to go forward
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: because she knew it would be a long process. What
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: did you see your role as at that moment?
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: At that very moment, I knew it was just... It
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: was about the safety. So I suppose once we spoke about.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Where she was living, what was happening, what was the pattern,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: it had increased. So my initial thing was for my
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: partner and their kids to be safe, which took a
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: period of time, but I stayed with her to make
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: sure that she was safe for those times. And we
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: just made our work work from where we were. And
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: that was my initial thing, to keep everyone safe, because
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I knew that this wasn't just a normal person that
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: we were dealing with. After, yeah, hearing all the.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: And were you in fear of actually being confronted by
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: this individual? Because his sense of entitlement and self-righteousness is
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: towering here. And I'd imagine he would look at you
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: as the ultimate enemy and the target of his rage.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No, if anything, it was probably the opposite. Probably thought,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I hope he doesn't come anywhere near here because I
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: didn't know what sort of self-control I would have.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: So you were the danger.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: I was probably the danger. Having to sit with my
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: partner and listening was, you know, a lot of emotion.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: There was a lot of things that went on that
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I certainly didn't even think that it happened in this world.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I know we hear it on the radio, but to
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: know that my partner went through that and someone did that, yeah, no,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: he would have been in real trouble if he'd come
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: near us. And I'm thankful that he didn't because my
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: rage was quite, Yeah, at full steam. It's not something
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: I could even try and explain to people when you
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: just meet someone. And, you know, at that stage, I
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: think I look back now, I had, you know, I
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: had fallen in love. And that might sound really bizarre,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: but we'd built such a relationship over that 10 weeks
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: of just talking and being in each other's life. It was, yeah,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: there was something really special. And, yeah, that's why I
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: was just in from the start. There was no backing out.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Fantastic. I love this aspect. This is the upswing. This
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: is where the story arc starts to go upwards from
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: a very dark place. Because you knew what was ahead
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: of you. Yeah. Three years of the process. Yeah. And
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I think what people don't realise is that when you
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: get to court, the victim isn't represented.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: The defendant is. The judge has got his offside. Everyone's
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: there doing their job, but the victim is there by themselves.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: And they're going to get torn up on the stand.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: All these things happen. And the most important moment is
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: when you sit with the police officer who says, I'm
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: going to take you through the process.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: These can be good. These can be bad experiences. I'm
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: sure people out there can give me both of those.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: But I think you had a good experience. How did
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: it begin?
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: I think I had a really good experience with Socket.
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: From the very first moment I sat down with them
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: and gave my first statement, they were fantastic, really. They didn't.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: beat around the bush and they didn't try and sweeten
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: things up they just told me exactly how it was
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: and what can happen which is in reality most of
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: the time nothing it doesn't go any further than making
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: your statement because there's not enough evidence but sometimes that's
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: that's enough for people is just to get it out
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: there and have it on record and and that continued
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: through like right right until the very end like right
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: until sentencing. They always stayed in touch. They always kept
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: me updated. If I needed anything, I could call at
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: any time and ask them questions. And it is, I guess,
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: as it was such a drawn-out process, there's honestly like
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: months and months in between hearing from them. So in
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: that time, you have no idea what's going on, but
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: your stress levels are really high.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Communication. If there's a police officer listening to this podcast, please...
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: I can't overstress the communication. And they're taught this. Even
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: in the academy, they're taught this.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: And the reality is you might not end with the
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: same officer you begin with.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: And each one's got to pick it up like it's
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the only case they're doing.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Because you're in that place where, you know, just even
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: your kid's safety.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Is paramount.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: You had a good experience.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: I had a good experience.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: And you gave all the statements and he was charged
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: with how many offences?
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: With eight offences.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: What were those?
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: There was seven of rape and one of sexual assault.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: You learn that he's been arrested and remanded.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Tell us about that.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he'd actually been arrested and remanded for quite a
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: while before they told me, actually. So I didn't actually
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: know until... Gee, he'd been in remand probably a couple
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: of months.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but it wasn't on your.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it wasn't on my... He wasn't remanded on my case.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: He was remanded for his offending while he was on
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: bail from my case.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's complicated. We'll get to the complication there. But
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: for you, Grant... We talked before about what your role
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: is in this situation. To learn that this bloke's off
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: the street, a big relief for you too.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I think we, yeah, we sat down as
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: a family and the children know everything that was happening
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: before he was remanded. So we went through safety protocol
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: with our locking the house, car doors. Obviously they were
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: starting a new school. You know, we sort of know
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: that We had to keep things, you know, we sort
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: of were off the grid to sort of protect everyone.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: So that moment that we heard that he was remanded,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: obviously we felt gutted that it was another victim. But
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: for us as a family, it was, yeah, a moment
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: of just to take a breath.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: Especially for the kids too. The kids, yeah, it really took,
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: it made a massive difference to the kids.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: Yes. Let's go back a step. Because he wasn't remanded
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: initially on those eight charges. He should have been, in
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: my opinion, given the threat that he posed to you.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: But he was charged.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: At that point, another woman became aware that Stevenson had
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: been charged over his crimes against Victoria. She came forward
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: to police with her own story and further charges were
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: laid against him and he was remanded in custody.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, she came forward and then further charges are laid. So, yeah.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: How'd that feel? Ah, good. You think it's not just me?
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Good, because that was the whole point of going to
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: Socket and telling them what had happened was so it
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: didn't happen to someone else.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: So he's then off the street in Remand.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Good place for him.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: But you are now still faced with the court appearances.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So I've had committal and then the actual trials.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Now, you took the option of appearing on video, I believe.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I did. I appeared on VideoLink, yeah.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: How much better was that for you?
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: It was really good. I had a support person from Windermere,
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: which is like a victim support service, and she was
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: able to sit with me in the room and just
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: offer support. It was actually just nice to, like when
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: they were having breaks or lunch, when we went for
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: breaks or whatever, just to have someone to talk to
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: who knew.
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: Exactly what was going on and who had sat in
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: that chair probably many, many times for other people as well. So, yeah,
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: it was good.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: And Grant, you're feeling anxious, fearful, but it's your job
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: to show none of that, to show support and solidarity.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Is that how it went?
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it was, I think, through the whole time
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: and we'd had many conversations about where I'd always said, like,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: you know, it's always going to be okay. Yeah, deep
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: down I suppose I did my own work with my
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: GP and stuff of how you support that.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: Did you?
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: That's really interesting.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I did because I felt it was never enough
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: what I did and I thought I could never, you know,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: see her sitting there just some days knowing that it
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: was a really crap day for her, knowing that I
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: probably had no control to fix that. And my GP
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: explained a lot, and it was just about being supportive.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: If she wants to talk, you listen. If not, you
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: just be there, and that will go a long way.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: What a very enlightened approach. I love this, and I've
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: never heard this before, but I think it's great. I
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: think the thing is that, I mean, what I've learned
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: in my somewhat disastrous romantic life over the years is
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: that I can't fix every problem. I've just got to listen.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: And I think if I'd known that earlier, things might
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: have been different in my life. But you learned it,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: and you applied that. Yeah, yeah, 100%, yep.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: And I just accepted that that was the role that
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: I had to play and, yeah, with the kids and
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: my partner. It was just, you know, we tried to
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: live life as normal. I just knew if it was
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: a crap day, it was a crap day and I
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: just gave her that space and we made it work.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: You know, we got through.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: So you gave evidence at both the committal and the trial.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: I think the most nerve-wracking moment and the daunting moment
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: is cross-examination by the perpetrators. barrister. He's there with one
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: sole aim to defend his client. He's fighting for his
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: life effectively. How was that?
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: It was definitely nerve-wracking. I found the whole, I was
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: nervous the whole time, the whole time through both the
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: committal and the trial and dreaded the cross-examination. But it was, look,
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: all I did was answer truthfully and I didn't let
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: them push me around or try and manipulate me and
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: back me into a corner or get me to say
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: something that I didn't want to say. I just stood
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: really firm with my answers and, yeah, I think I
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: did really well in the end. Yeah.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Obviously. Yeah. You did very well.
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: But what was the line of questioning? How were they
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: trying to discredit your allegations?
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: They tried lots of different things. So they tried to
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: say that one of the things was the medication that
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: I was taking when I had my brain tumour that
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: I wasn't aware of what was going on. Another thing
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: was it was for money from the house. So we
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: had a house. We lived in a house together.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: But you'd paid for everything, I believe, hadn't you?
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So I'd already bought the house prior to meeting and, like,
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: starting a relationship with Kent. So... I believe, but I still,
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: because we'd been together for 10 years, he still had
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: a right to have a house. But that was up
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: to him to take it to a family co-op, and
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: he never did that.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Good. The rat didn't deserve a cent.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: So he didn't get anything. Yeah. Good. Which was good.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: It was an ordeal. It was an ordeal.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: And there's that little time bomb ticking in the back
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: of your mind. What if he's acquitted?
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: My whole thing the whole way through was that he's
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: going to get off. Just from knowing him and the
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: person that he portrays to other people, like this good
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: guy who would never do anything wrong, I always knew
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: he would get off, that he would find a way
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: to get off. Grant always said there's no way he's
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: going to be convicted. Grant always stood firm and I....
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: I think it's quite natural for you to fear the worst.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: But again, Grant, he's a good bloke, this one.
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: He always felt, I think I'm right in saying, that
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: the perpetrator would be convicted. What gave you that confidence, mate?
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Look, a lot of it was I had to be
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: in that mindset because if, you know, at that stage,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I think that if we both broke down, the whole,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: you know, the whole family unit would have broke down.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: But deep down, I thought.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: The investigators, the detectives, they were amazing. They didn't leave
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: anything on the table that they couldn't. They did absolutely everything. And,
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: you know, just to get it to the DPP and
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: realise that we might have a case. Once all those
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: boxes were ticked, I knew we were going to trial.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: I just knew you just tell the truth and, you know,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: it has to go one way. It can only go
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: one way. So I always felt... which is probably not
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: what my partner explained, but you just don't get to
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: go to committal. You don't just get to go to whatever.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: It's a long process before they say, yes, we're actually
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: going to take the case. So there's little wins along
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: the way, and I think the main thing is we
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: celebrated those little wins.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: That's really important. I'm not going to say it's a lottery,
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: but it certainly seems like a game of chance for people. Definitely.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and if it backfires, yeah, there's a lot that
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: can go wrong. But yeah, when you've been perpetrated against,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: that's why, you know, I feel so much love and
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: my partner is so courageous just to stand up. Number
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: one for herself, but every female that's around and yeah,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: because it's a crisis in our country at the moment.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, it is. It's absolutely, it's an unfolding crisis.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: But this did have a happy ending and he's found guilty.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Just take me back to the moment. You weren't in
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: the court, I'm assuming. No. But you were listening in
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: on video link or?
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: I think we didn't. No, we didn't go. I chose
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: not to go actually. So I actually got a phone
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: call from the OPP and they told me that he'd
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: been found guilty on all charges. Yeah.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: Let's get a bit more detail. You just glossed over
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: the phone rings. Yeah. And you'd be thinking, what's going
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: to happen?
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was. I was very stressed actually because the
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: The jury took like three days, I think it was,
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: to come back.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: That's a bad sign.
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: It was so stressful. It was like the worst three days.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: I was just like on edge and just waiting for
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: the phone to ring to get a guilty or a
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: not guilty statement. And it was, yeah, it was really stressful.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: So when they called and said, the first thing they
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: said to me was, well, he's guilty on all, he's
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: been found guilty on all charges. And I was like, oh,
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: my God, that's amazing.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: Where were you, Grant?
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was right next to her. I remember, yeah,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I was quite excited and I'm pretty sure they could
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: hear me because I was yelling through the house, so.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: Cue the Rocky music.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: Grant was very excited.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I just, yeah, I knew what it meant
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: and how much work had gone into that. But at
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: that stage, yeah, we weren't. So that was the first
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: tick and, yeah, and as we go on, I think
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: we had to wait another two to three months for sentencing.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: So there's another part to it.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: There is, there is. There's one important aspect here. In Victoria...
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: The names of sexual assault victims are suppressed, which can
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: often mean that the perpetrator's name is suppressed because identification
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: of him would tend to identify the victim. It's all
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: up to the victim, though.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: You decided that his name needed to be out there.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Why did you do that?
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: Because I wanted people to know what he'd done. I
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: wanted people to know who he was and for people
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: to be aware. That was the only reason. I just
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: didn't want it to just go quietly by and no
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: one knowing and him being able to hide it from people. And,
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: you know, I wanted people to know who he was
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: and what he'd done. So it was my option. It
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: was my, in committal, I was asked if I wanted
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: everything suppressed because he had applied for the suppression order.
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: And I said, absolutely not. And yeah, so it didn't
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: get suppressed. And I think that's only fair. And I
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: had no issue with my name coming out because I
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: knew that I was telling the truth and I had
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: nothing to hide. So I don't think he was very
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: happy with it. But I was certainly happy that the
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: Herald Sun and whoever reported on it was able to
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: report on it and use his name, use his full name.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: Exactly. He wasn't happy. I'm going to use the technical
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: term here. Boo-hoo.
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: Boo-hoo. Should have thought of that.
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: And you can find his name on Google, Kent Albert Stevenson.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Please read the stories. Some of them are behind paywalls,
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: but that's all right. The sentencing comes around. Yeah. What
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: are you hoping for at that moment?
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: I'm hoping for something decent. But at the end of
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: the day, anything was good. Just for him to get
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: any jail time at all was good. I had no
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: expectation really on how long that should be or anything.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: I just wanted him to get, to be held accountable
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: and to get something. So I attended the sentencing via
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: Zoom and he got his 13 years with nine on
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: the bottom. So I was, I was really happy. I
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: thought that's quite fair. Could have been longer, absolutely. But
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: I think it was a, I think it was a
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: good sentence and the OPP were happy as well. any less,
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: and they said they would probably appeal it and ask
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: for more. But they were happy, I was happy, and
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: it was finally, after three years, over, which was good.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: But fortunately, it's not over for Kent Albert Stevenson. He's
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: now going through a separate proceeding from... Yeah. Have you
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: followed that at all?
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: No. Well, we haven't been able to get any information
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: on it or anything, so we haven't really been able to.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: So....
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: We don't know what's going on there.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's unlikely he'll get any more jail time
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: for that. It's usually these situations where they get a
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: concurrent sentence unless there's really aggravated circumstances. And, you know,
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: once they hit jail, offenders like this, cowards who abuse
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: their wives, abuse their own children, they don't get it easy. No.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: They often live in protection, things like that. It hasn't
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: been good for him. What have you heard about what
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: happened to him? Yeah, well, he.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: Allegedly, according to the sentencing hearing, he had been attacked
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: in jail and stabbed in jail and was fearful of
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: his life.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: In the same way he'd made you fearful.
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. So they had moved him from....
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so the main jail, which closed in November, which was.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: Port Phillip?
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he got moved from Port Phillip out to Hopkins
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: Correctional Center at Ararat.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: At Ararat, yeah. Okay. Okay. Now, this is a happy ending,
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: but there's complicating factors here. You're raising his two children.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: Their father's in jail.
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: Grant's on the scene.
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: You've now got to make all that work.
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: How do you deal with the question of what the
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: kids think about this and stability for them?
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah the kids just see grant as their dad really
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: yeah they've they've adjusted like really well to the whole
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: situation they don't see kent as their dad they don't
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: want anything to do with him they don't want me
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: to mention his name they don't want anything to just
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: nothing to do with him at all and grant's sort
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: of slotted into that dad role and they've thrived really.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: You didn't use that get out of jail free card.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: Did you ever think about it? No, not for one minute. No, never.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: No, I was hooked, as I said, from that first moment.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: So I knew that there'd be hard times and I
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: knew there'd be times that you would doubt what you
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: can do and what you can't. And I think I've
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: been through all that and I've wrote every emotion. But yeah, no,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: it's not one time that I've ever... ever thought about
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: that for.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Sure because you know love is an easy thing to
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: say or to even to write down or to tell
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: your friends about love is about loyalty about protection and
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: safety and you've just been fantastic I've got to tell
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: you I mean there's a lot of terrible stories about
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: men this isn't one of them and I really admire
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: what you've done and I really wish you all the
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: best with your life going forward.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah I appreciate that thank you.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: Tell me how much you love him. I'm going to
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: force it.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: This is something that she finds very hard.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: A lot.
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: And he's done so much over the three years and
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: I don't acknowledge it and I don't say it.
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: Here's your moment.
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: But I do and I do appreciate everything that he's
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: done and the way he's stepped up. And there have
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: been plenty of really, really shit days over the three years,
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: and he's always stayed positive through them.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: I'm proud of him. I'm proud of you.
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: What advice would you give to women who are listening
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: to this about what they should do, the options, the pitfalls?
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: I think definitely reporting. Because it's not an entitlement. Men
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: aren't entitled to do that, even though they might think
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: that they are. And especially in a relationship, I think
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: there's an even bigger sense of entitlement that, you know,
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: we're together, so you should do this. But that's not true.
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: You don't owe them anything. So I would say if
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: it's happening, to definitely report to Socket and definitely... follow
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: through to the to the fullest extent of the law
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: if you can.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: And grant what advice would you give to men who've
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: got the opportunity to support someone like victoria going through.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: This yeah yeah if you're in uh just do it
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: you can make a huge difference unfortunately most of all
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: the stuff is with males against females there's a lot
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: of good ones out there and if you meet someone
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: and you're in, that's it. There's just support. Just be there.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: Listen when you need to. And just always, always show
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: that love. And I think, as I've said, my partner's
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: not the easiest to show that. But there's a lot
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: of trauma, a lot of background stuff there. So we
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: work through that. I know she loves me. And so
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: I would just say to that, yeah, just jump in,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: get in. Yeah, because the ending can be amazing.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And I want to thank you. for sharing it,
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: but also reaching out to me. And this is what
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: this podcast is becoming. I didn't understand this when I
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: began it, that when we make this studio available to
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: hear these stories, amazing things can happen. I want to
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: thank you for sharing it today.
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: My pleasure. It's good to get it out there. Yeah.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: That's Victoria and Grant telling their story. And, you know,
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: the crime story traditionally begins with a tragedy, with the
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: possibility of a happy ending. This is one that has that.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: And I'm so pleased to have brought it to you
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: in the audience. And I want to hear from you
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: as well. If you've been in the same place as Victoria,
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: look at your options. Reach out to your local police station.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: Find someone to talk to. But be careful. Get advice.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: Make sure you've got enough support because it can be
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: a very lonely, difficult process. This one took three years.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: It can be longer. But you don't need to stay
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: in silence. And there are lots of Kent Albert Stevenson's
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: out there getting away with this. because the silence prevails.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: You can always call Crime Stoppers as well, 1-800-333-000. And
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: I put this call out on Facebook as well recently,
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: that people who have suffered historical sexual abuse, you can
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: reach out to me. And I'm just a journalist. I
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: can't guarantee that I can bring you justice, but I
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: will listen. And I'll direct you to the resources that
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: are available. So you can reach out to me either
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: on Facebook or my email, adamshandwriter at gmail.com. Thank you
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: for listening today. This has been Adam Shand for Real Crime.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to this episode and supporting this story.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: Independent storytelling that shapes the world is what Podshape really
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: cares about. Right now, there's thousands of people listening to
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: this show and our other true crimes, and they're completely engaged.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: More than 10 million Australians listen to podcasts each week.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: If you've ever thought about advertising your business in a podcast,
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: there's a link to reach out in the show notes
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: or head to Podshape.com to book a free call.