A woman who was repeatedly abused by her father has decided to speak out because she “just couldn’t carry it anymore”. 

Only child Charlene Masterson was raised by her two parents and from the outside had a pretty “normal” childhood. 

It was only when she turned 18 that her father began to blackmail her. 

“I got a text from a number I didn’t know,” she told Lunchtime Live. 

“It was kind of an accusing ‘I know what you did’ [text] and I wasn’t someone who got in trouble. 

“So, I instantly panicked because this wasn’t the norm for me, I didn’t do anything wrong.” 

The sender told Ms Masterson that he knew who her father was, where he worked and who his boss was. 

The text also threatened that if she did not do certain things for him, her father would be in trouble. 

Ms Masterson said at this point, she was just a “very naive” 18-year-old who was not “street smart at all”. 

So, she asked her Dad to help her. 

“He never questioned, ‘What did you do? Did you do anything?’ nothing like that,” she said. 

“It was just, ‘Well, you’re just going to have to do it.’”

The abuse starts

The texts then demanded she commit sexual acts with strangers. 

“I remember sitting and waiting for this stranger to arrive,” Ms Masterson said. 

“And my Dad looking out the window and going, ‘Well, here he comes.’ Hindsight is fantastic - how would you know that that’s the person? 

“I had to be blindfolded and when it was over - there were sexual acts - the ‘person’ left - I use that term loosely - and then my Dad would come in and say, ‘God, are you okay?’

“This is a man that would have physically seen the state I was in because he was the perpetrator - but I didn’t know that.” 

The truth emerges

The text messages continued for the next two-and-a-half years. 

It was only when she was helping to put software on her grandmother’s laptop that she discovered the truth. 

Ms Masterson found two discs which had squiggly marker lines on them. 

Curious about what was on them, she put one into the laptop and realised it was a video recording of her father abusing her. 

The next time she got a text, she replied that she knew it was her father. 

“Within about three seconds, he shouted from upstairs,” he said. 

“When I went up, he turned it into a gaslighting thing of, ‘How do you think I could do that? How dare you even say that?’

“He nearly convinced me that I hadn’t seen it.”

She never got another text message after that. 

“He wasn’t that clever,” she said. 

Still, the abuse continued for another five years, her father just gave up the pretence it was someone else. 

Justice

Eventually, the Guards knocked on the door of the family home in relation to another crime and Ms Masterson told them about the abuse. 

It was the start of a “tough journey” that ended in 2021 when her father appeared in court, having pleaded guilty to abusing her.  

“I found the first day in court the hardest because… I heard it outloud in court for the first time,” Ms Masterson said. 

“That was really surreal and I think I had an outer body experience that day. 

“It just didn’t feel like it was my story.” 

Ultimately, the judge sentenced Ms Masterson’s father to 17 years for his crimes. 

“I don’t hate him, I don’t have any feelings, there’s no feelings there,” she said. 

“I think hatred just uses up too much energy to be honest and I think he’s taken enough.” 

Victims of sexual abuse have the right to lifelong anonymity but Ms Masterson decided to waive hers in the hope her story might help someone else. 

“I just couldn’t carry it anymore,” she said. 

“But also, if my story can help even one person, I’ve done my job.” 

If you have been impacted by sexual violence you can contact Women's Aid 24 hours a day on 1800 341 900.

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Main image: Charlene Masterson. Picture by: Newstalk