'His face haunted me'
Sarah Keavney and her wife were watching a documentary when she stood up and walked over to the phone.
Now, as Peter Hayes begins a five year jail term, Sarah has waived her right to anonymity to reveal the trauma she felt burdened to carry and the courage she found to speak out against her abuser. Hayes sexually assaulted her as her brothers slept in the room next door. He then cruelly threatened her.
Hayes went on to abuse Sarah again, completely unbeknownst to her mum and dad. He would leave 50p on her bedside table as another cruel reminder of his abuse. “For years I never forgot his face, his face haunted me. At night time I started wetting the bed - I did have a fear of him. Sarah called the police and gave brief details over the phone before they arranged for her to go to a local police station. As she hadn’t seen Hayes for over 30 years, she said she had to provide images of him from Facebook. She found he had seven accounts on the social media platform.
“I was worried everyday that he was free to walk down the road and talk to any child, free to stand outside a school, I really struggled with that the most,” Sarah said. “When I saw him, I sat there thinking I'm not that little six year old child anymore, I'm an adult and I can fight my own battles, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to face him. He knows what he did, this is sacred now,” Sarah said.“I was absolutely determined that it was going to come from me,” she said.
“I never felt I was good enough for a career, relationships were horrendous and I felt like broken goods,” she said. “I don't have many people over the doorstep for obvious reasons. I make sure my children feel protected and my home is my safe place because I never had that,” she added.
Courts Minshull Street Crown Court M.E.N. Explore
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