Latest news with #MikeWorsman
ABC News
5 days ago
- ABC News
Child sex abuse survivor speaks of anger over abuser's 16-month sentence
A child sex abuse survivor has reacted angrily to the sentence imposed on his abuser by the ACT Supreme Court. Mike Worsman was aged 12 when he was sexually abused by a 15-year-old in the 1990s in Canberra. The now 42-year-old man pleaded guilty to five charges including several acts of indecency. He has been sentenced to two years in jail, but that will be suspended after 16 months, which means he could be free in November next year. Mr Worsman said he was bitterly disappointed and had been let down by the system. "Today, I learnt that the loss of innocence of a child, at the hands of a violent sexual predator, is worth 16 months," Mr Worsman said after the sentencing. "I don't blame Justice Mossop, he is merely a cog in a machine that wreaks of systematic apathy — because the system's own design makes inaction and contempt for victims the norm. "The pain of the last six years pursuing this case through the system has not been worth it, not for a mere 16 months of peace. "The system has let me and all children and parents across Australia down," he said. The court heard that when Mr Worsman threatened to tell someone, his abuser said: "I will f***ing kill you if you tell." Mr Worsman said he was terrified at the time. In the end, he said he only came forward to make a complaint when he realised the man had sexually abused another child. Justice David Mossop said he recognised the catastrophic consequences the crime had had for Mr Worsman. He also noted that at 15 years, the abuser would have known what he was doing. Mr Worsman faced years-long delays between his complaint and today's sentence, in part due to the offender being in jail for the other offence, but also because of bureaucratic problems. He said he has now turned his focus towards campaigning for a better system to manage cases like his, along with tougher jail sentences. "The saddest thing that dawned on me at a time when other victims are reaching out for advice, is that I could not tell them to speak out, he said.
ABC News
12-08-2025
- ABC News
Child sex abuse survivor calls for urgent case management reform after his life was 'shattered'
A child sex abuse survivor has called on the courts and police across Australia to urgently reform the way cases like his are managed. South Australian Mike Worsman has delivered a victim impact statement in the ACT Supreme Court today describing the crimes against him as "monstrous". The man accused of the offences has pleaded guilty to five charges, including acts of indecency and rape, committed in Canberra in the 1990s. Mr Worsman was only 12 at the time of the offences. The court heard the man had threatened to kill him if he told anyone, as the attacks became increasingly violent. "He stopped only when I said, 'Kill me or stop'," Mr Worsman told the court. In a graphic account he said: "I will never be un-raped". "I will never know a life free from this pain," Mr Worsman said. "He shattered my existence. "His evil infected me." Mr Worsman had kept the abuse secret for more than 20 years. But then came a bombshell, when he discovered his abuser had sexually assaulted another child. The man spent several years in jail in South Australia for that offence, but has recently been released. Mr Worsman said the discovery another person had suffered at the hands of his abuser prompted him to go to police in 2019. But after gathering his courage — and taking part in a five hour interview — he was told by the officer involved he was in the wrong place. "He said, 'Oh, actually I shouldn't have been taking your statement here — the crimes first started in the ACT', and he then went on to say, 'Actually I'll send them the document next week'," Mr Worsman said in an interview after his court appearance. "Eighteen months later is how long it took him, me following up every month to say, 'Hey, have you sent that document that's about me being raped as a child over to the ACT?'" There was then a long wait while his abuser served the first sentence. But when it came to bringing the man to Canberra, there was another hurdle, with no legal avenue to extradite him. "He pleaded guilty on the 19th of June last year," Mr Worsman said. "Why couldn't he be sentenced a month after that via remote video link? "He was sentenced via remote video link for the other case." He said it had been an anxious wait between the man being released from South Australia, and the ACT court proceedings. "He was then allowed to be a free citizen and asked to get on a plane by [SA Police], thankfully he did, and then he's out in the community here," Mr Worsman said. He has also called for tough minimum sentences for such offenders, to protect the community. The offender will be sentenced on Thursday.
