A teenage girl raped by a classmate was given a frighteningly cruel nickname at her high school after the allegations became known, and the attacker was even allowed back into class.
The girl, known as Rachel, attended a school west of Sydney and was nicknamed “the chick who lies about being raped” by friends of her rapist.
After the incident, she was also molested by her attacker’s younger sister, who followed her to the school toilet.
The rapist was also allowed to go back to the same school as his victim after being released on bail.
Last month he received a minimum sentence of just two months in prison but was released on bail within two hours of an appeal.
Neither he nor his victim may be named for legal reasons.
Rachel (pictured) was raped by a classmate who was allowed to attend the same school, despite being charged
On Thursday night, Rachel told Channel 10’s The Project that her experience “was horrific. I don’t recognize myself at all and haven’t for a very, very long time.’
Her father, who also cannot be named, said: ‘[He] destroyed my daughter. He may have changed her for life.”
Rachel and her attacker were both 16 when they went to a party three years ago.
“I was so high I wasn’t even remotely myself,” she said. “I started to push myself away.
“I said no and kicked him away and that’s when it all started and lasted over two hours where he raped and choked me. I had never had sex before.
“Not that it was sex. And I just remember it was so terrifying,” she said.
It took almost a year for Rachel to find the strength to tell a teacher that she had been raped by a classmate.
She broke down at the memory, saying she didn’t tell my parents because I knew it would break their hearts.
“So I had spoken to the Deputy Headmistress and she told them for me.”
Some boys at school had started talking about wanting to rape girls and a teacher. Pictured is an archive image of a classroom
Disturbingly, her father said he knew exactly who raped his daughter “because I warned the principal and that principal didn’t do anything.”
“Four days after we issued an alert that he was a rape threat to girls at school, he raped our daughter,” he explained.
Months before the attack, a group of boys in Rachel’s year group began threatening girls and a teacher with sexual violence at school.
Concerned about what might happen, Rachel and several other girls wrote to report the boys to the officers.
But she said a teacher who spoke to the boys said, “Boys will stay boys, these things happen”. “The whole thing felt so demeaning at how scared we all were.”
Police visited the school to speak to the young men in question, but the ringleader was absent that day.
The girls named this boy that specifically because he was the one they feared the most.
He was eventually charged with six counts of sexual assault and one count of asphyxiation without permission.
Despite the charges against him, he was allowed to go back to the same school.
Rachel’s father was appalled.
“I had assumed that if you’re accused of multiple charges of sexual assault, you can’t go back into the same school as the victim. I was totally wrong,’ he said.
The boy’s parents later transferred him to another school.
“We were told he didn’t have to tell the new school that he was accused of aggravated rape,” Rachel’s father said.
He added that the new school “does not have the legal right to know this. This is a part of the law that absolutely needs to be changed.”
Although her attacker was gone, the harassment of Rachel continued.
“There were people who nicknamed me ‘the chick who lies about rape’ because they were buddies with him,” she said.
Rachel said her father “was an absolute hero in all of this.” Pictured are Rachel and her father walking through bushland
“I was molested by the little sister after he was arrested where she followed me to the bathroom.”
The school told Rachel’s father to consider issuing an order for alleged violence against the girl.
“Yet this is happening on school grounds, and the principal has completely failed to protect her from the rapist’s sister,” he said.
Questioned on the matter at a NSW Parliament hearing in 2020, the state’s Education Secretary, Sarah Mitchell, said: “These allegations of this sexual assault have not occurred on school grounds.
“But I certainly appreciate how challenging it must have been for the victim to be at school with her — with the abuser.”
Finally, two years later, Ms Mitchell asked the department to look into better support for crime victims who attend the same school as their attackers.
But NSW Department of Education Secretary Georgina Harrisson said: “We need to balance the rights of both pupils on this matter.
“When these incidents happen, they are invariably handled very well locally within the school context,” she said.
Ms Harrisson’s words upset Rachel’s father. ‘Bull****, absolute bull****. The school’s first reaction was to protect the school’s reputation. Protecting our daughter came second,” he said.
He said the Department of Education is refusing to tell him what they investigated and “they won’t tell us if anyone at the school will face consequences for their failure to protect our daughter.”
Last month the NSW Children’s Court in Parramatta (pictured) found the teenager guilty and sentenced him to nine months in prison with a minimum of just two months
Rachel said she was certain other girls at her school had also been raped.
“I have no doubt. There are at least five to eight other women who have been through what I’ve been through,” she said.
“I have friends who said to me very lovingly, ‘After seeing what you’ve been through, I would never do it, it’s not worth it.’
Shockingly, Rachel said she’s “seen so much victim blaming. I’ve had a lot of people say, “But you chose to drink that night,” as if that meant that drinking at a party inherently means you deserve to be raped.”
Last month, the NSW Children’s Court in Parramatta found the teenager guilty and sentenced him to nine months in prison with a minimum of just two months.
But he got out on bail within a few hours.
Rachel said the trial made her feel “like I’ve been raped by the system all over again.
“I think it sends a message to every other rapist and predator out there, ‘I can do this and I get a slap on the hand.’
Rachel (pictured) wants to see change so others don’t have to go through what she has
Rachel is considering taking legal action against the Department of Education and the school, but most of all she wants to see change so others don’t have to go through what she has.
“I have an incredible little sister who is one of my best friends who I do most of my work for because I just want to make things safer and better for her than for me,” she said.
Her father broke down when asked how he was doing. “I’m not feeling very well. It was really hard because I want justice for my daughter,” he said.
“We were blocked at every corner. All our questions are unanswered and I will keep fighting until I get those answers.’
Rachel said her father was a rock to her.
“My father was an absolute hero in all of this. He absolutely turned his life upside down to take care of me and has saved my life more times than I think he will ever know.
If this story has raised issues for you, you can contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline 13 11 14
