The mother of a young boy sexually abused for four years by Anson Manning, a man 15 years his senior, has spoken in court about the family’s anguish over the “horrendous crime”.
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The woman choked back sobs as she read her victim impact to the court on Monday, describing Manning as a “sick and twisted monster”. “How do you begin to describe how a crime like this affects you?” she said.
“I feel sickened, disgusted, betrayed, used, repulsed, furious and depressed.”
She said Manning’s offending had torn her family’s life apart.
“I’m continually trying to process how this happened and why my beautiful little man couldn’t talk to me about it,” she said.
“I constantly think about what I could have done to prevent this.”
The woman said she now knew her son wanted to tell her about the abuse, even going so far as to record a confession on his mobile phone.
“He was too scared to press send because he thought he would kill him,” she said. “(Manning) told him I didn’t love him and I would hate him if I found out.”
She described taking her young son to the doctors and having to hold him screaming and crying while they conducted sexual health tests and photographic evidence.
“These are images I’ll never forget,” she said.
“I had to listen to my son tell me he had to give 17 blow jobs to get the scooter he wanted.
“Sleep is now something that eludes me. I cannot have any intimacy because my mind just becomes flooded with images of what he did.”
The court heard the boy, now in his early teens, was continually engaging in high-risk behaviour and struggling at school.
“This predator took the one thing from my child that was most sacred – his innocence.”