Paedophile alert! All was set, I was finally going to marry! However little did I know that I was just about to marry a paedophile!
It was 2010 and I was a single mother to a 3 year old. I was happy but felt something was missing, so I joined the Connecting Singles dating website. After a few strange messages I finally got a lovely message from a man. He seemed so lovely! He had recently moved to Malta and worked in i-gaming.
After a couple of weeks chatting we decided to meet up. We got on so well!
He was lovely, I even opened up to him about my past childhood sexual abuse. It was an amazing first date. We clicked right away. Eventually he also met my child. They got on great too.
After about 6 months I moved in with this man. All went well. On our 7th month anniversary he proposed. I accepted as all was going just brilliant. It felt like a dream. We decided to set the date for our year anniversary since meeting. So we picked out a venue, food sorted, cake sorted. My dress was sorted as well as my daughter’s flower girl dress. It was just perfect. Family from abroad all booked up flights to arrive for our special day.
Two weeks before the wedding I was logged into our laptop which we shared and a message popped up. The message was from a older lady and it said ” baby when are we going to chat again I miss our chats and how we used to chat about what we were going to do to my daughters”. Paedophile alert! I re-read the message and then read the history.
He was messaging this lady; he had been messaging this lady for 3 years and the messages were awful. Talking about how they would sexually abuse her daughters when he had the chance to visit her.
As soon as I read that I vomited and picked up my child and called my sister. Me and my daughter left immediately and found a new home. As I was sexually assaulted as a child I had never and still don’t trust anyone with my child so I knew she was okay. I contacted the police but by then he had fled the country and moved back to the UK. I sent the Police in the UK all screenshots etc but as far as I know, nothing was done.
Many women have written to us about their own experiences, even as young children, having been abused by paedophiles, as featured in our #metoomalta article and on the women only group on Facebook, Women for Women (Malta). If you have experienced this, know that it is not your fault. Do seek professional help so you can close that chapter and move forward in peace.
If you too have a story you’d like to share please feel free to contact us or write to us in strictest confidence on [email protected]
