‘I’m not that child anymore and I will no longer be shamed into silence’

Tara Kelly aged 17 in 2006, a year after the sexual assaults on her by Michael King ended. Picture: Tara Kelly

Even with her abuser finally put away, Tara Kelly still struggles to say out loud that she’s a victim of sexual abuse. Because smooth-talking, charming car salesman Micheal King wasn’t violent or aggressive with her as a 16-year-old. 

He was her cousin’s husband, part of the family, a happily married father of two, a model employee at the car dealership. What he did to her didn’t fall under the stereotypical vision in her mind of sexual assault. But his grooming was sinister, it was criminal and it slowly tortured her for the next two decades of her life.