ANDREW MATTHEW AND DUNDEE SISTERS RECOUNT FIGHT AGAINST SEX OFFENDER
In May 2005, a courageous sister described her fight for justice after her uncle was convicted of multiple sexual offences.A woman renowned for her efforts in assisting child victims of abuse attended court to witness her former abuser, Andrew Matthew, 67, be sentenced to six years in prison.
The jury found Matthew guilty of a series of rape and indecency crimes spanning nearly five decades.
Following the sentencing, Matthew's nieces—his sisters—chose to waive their right to anonymity and spoke openly about their ordeal.
One sister, awarded Citizen of the Year in 1997 for founding the '18 and Under' project in Dundee to support abused children, recounted her childhood trauma.
She told the High Court in Edinburgh that her abuse began when she was just three years old, sitting on her favorite uncle's knee.
Her sister provided a harrowing account of how she would mentally detach from the abuse, describing how she would 'switch off' by gazing at a picture of children playing on the wall of her Dundee home while Matthew was abusing her.
This sister, who fled Dundee in her early teens and later lived rough in London, admitted to using drugs as a way to cope with the horrific memories.
Despite her pain, she expressed a sense of hope upon leaving court.
She said, 'I think I have managed to turn the negative into positive and used a bad experience to help others.' As a voluntary worker with the '18 and Under' project, she added, 'I suppose I am glad to have been believed and glad it is all over and he cannot hurt anybody else.'
