November 23, 2025 • 36 mins
In this powerful and deeply confronting episode, Adam Shand speaks with survivor and advocate Marita Murphy, who has spent more than 50 years trying to be heard. At just seven years old, Marita was brutally assaulted by two teenage boys—a crime her family discouraged her from reporting and one that would shape every part of her life.
Marita opens up about the trauma she carried into adulthood, the toll on her family, the failures of the justice system, and her relentless pursuit of truth. She also shares how she tracked down her perpetrator herself, why she created her award-winning documentary You Be The Judge, and what keeps her fighting not only for her own case, but for victims everywhere.
Watch You Be The Judge here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh1ODu2JdSA
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Appoche production.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This podcast contains references to the sexual assault of children
and domestic violence. It's not recommended for younger listeners, and
discretion is advised. Welcome to Real Crime with Adam Shand.
I'm your host, Adam Shand. Since beginning this podcast, I've
been approached by a number of women seeking justice for
(00:32):
historical sexual assaults that have occurred, sometimes decades ago. My
sense of outrage and justice has moved me to advise
and to take their.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Cases to police.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I've said this based on a perception that police are
more ready to pursue offenders.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Even after many, many years.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Today's case we're discussing makes me think twice. In nineteen
sixty eight, seven year old Marita Murphy was gang raped
by two teenage boys, a crime witness by a third.
She was discouraged from making a police report of the
time by her family and suffered in silence until twenty fourteen.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
The policeman said to me, lady, I don't know what
happened to you, but you need counseling.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
The police investigation went nowhere, and so Marita was left
to bring a civil suit against the perpetrators.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
She lost that case and is.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Now one hundred thousand dollars out of pocket.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
My childhood was over at seven. It wouldn't matter how
much money someone gave me. Now I can't go and
buy a new childhood.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
This is a cautionary tale that suggests the odds are
still stacked against the victims. Maurita has told her story
in an award winning documentary called You Be the Judge,
which you can find on YouTube. Breita keeps fighting for
justice and it's my pleasure to welcome her to real crime.
I'm Marita, my pleasure. It's a long story. Start at
(01:57):
the beginning.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
It's a lifetime. My father died first of July nineteen
sixty eight. I lived in a Catholic community up in Gippsland,
past Pakenham and Nagoon, and it was a pretty sheltered existence.
But Mum got sick and I was the youngest of seven,
so she had a fair bit on her plate and
(02:20):
I was home with Gran, who I worked out was
eighty four at that time and Mum had been an
only child, so Gran was quite frail and not used
to lots of children. But I was picked up and
taken to Melbourne by a family. There I was suffered
very serious sexual abuse that was life altering and continues
(02:41):
to plague me to this day.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Now, your memories are very clear about what happened, and
that's the difference to many other cases I've covered.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I mean, I know it's painful, but.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Do you want to share a little bit of a
story so people can get an idea of what you suffered.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
I think you know a lot of people have repressed memories,
and I don't think I ever fell into that categree.
You're not trying to remember, you're trying to forget, but
you are imprinted. And the adults knew because I told
on these youths, and so my voice had power at
the age of seven, and Mum supported me because when
(03:21):
she got me back, she knew what had happened. And
I reported to the police in May twenty fourteen, as
the Royal Commission was into childhood sexual abuse was running
in Australia, with Ballarat featuring very highly and I kind
of just wanted to purge it. But when the police
(03:42):
found the main one, what's hard to say I was
the main one. He wasn't the main offender, but it
was his family's home that I was at. I had
this sense of relief that, oh, thank Heavens, this is over.
But to be the truth of it was that was
the beginning, because he said to the police when he
was interviewed, that he did not know me, and he
(04:03):
did not know his foster brother, an Aboriginal youth that
was staying with them at the time. His name was
Eugene Samuel Lovett, and I'm grateful to his mother to
this day that she blessed him with an exotic Greek
name meaning well born, because if he had a just
been called Fred or Barry, possibly we wouldn't have been
(04:25):
able to identify him. But I grew up with the
imprint of that was the first Aborigining I'd ever met.
He was a juvenile delinquent, he was a criminal. He
went on to become a serial predator. And if they're
not stopped, and he obviously wasn't stopped with me, and
he probably didn't face any consequences, that is the thing.
(04:47):
They just keep on reoffending. But to his credit, he
did the right thing. And when he passed away, I
think in February twenty twenty, him and I had made peace,
and it's his support that's enabled me to speak freely.
I haven't been sued. The other party was a very
wealthy Melbourne entrepreneurial businessman and he's lied. He's committed perjury
(05:12):
in the EFFI David to court for the civil case.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
He signed.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
One of the questions he signed was that the two
families weren't known to one another. Well, why would my
sister have his home address and his parents' details in
her address book if we weren't known to one another.
But he's faced no consequences for his lies and I'm
out a pocket over one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
That rankles a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I'm sure it does.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
We won't name him so he can't cause more financial
damage to you or I. You named him previously and
we won't do that again. But it was a simple
matter for him to deny this for so long as
you were left with few options with the police.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
What did the police tell you?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Well, they were hot and cold.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Initially I reported in Ballarat and the detective here did
no good, and I hadn't included anybody much else. I
just purged this what was within me, trying to get
rid of it. And he asked if he could ring
and speak to my sister. She was the oldest of
the family by eleven years to me, and he rang
(06:21):
her in wa and she pulled out the address book
and gave him the address. But as a detective, he
didn't actually asked her to spell the surname. And it
can be pronounced and sound the same and have three
different spellings. I've seen three different spellings. My brother on
mum's obituary had spelt it wrong and that's what he
(06:42):
was dealing with. It was incorrect. So when he saw
that it was indeed a bayside suburb in Melbourne of Elstenwick,
it went to Morabin and the socket detective that took
it up there. I've never even met him, Adam. I've
traveled from Ballarat to Morabin on three occasions. He rang
my sister and she's obviously spelt the surname and he's
(07:03):
got him straight away. So he rang me very excitedly
and said I've interviewed him and the response was that
he's never heard of me, and he's never heard of
the Aborigine, his foster brother. But surprisingly then he went
one step further, this detective and he said that he
was a chance to go to Perth for something, and
(07:24):
he interviewed his younger brother, who was the witness to
the gang rape, and they wouldn't have been expecting that.
And the younger brother said that I didn't exist, but
Eugene did exist. So if I'm a seven year old
little girl from up in the country, how the hell
could I know they had an aboriginal juvenile delinquent staying
(07:46):
with them. So I just said to the police, well,
I'm going to approach this wealthy individual myself, and they
said you can't do that, and I'm like, who's going
to stop me? I'm an adult. He has a public place,
so I went there. He wasn't there, which was probably
a fortunate thing because I was getting angry. Howdare you
(08:07):
treat me in this manner? Callous? Just so sorry, just
do the right thing.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
But I left some.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Information there for him, and his lawyer rang me and
set up a meeting in Tuaq. I went alone, but
my then husband and my sister, some people from mary
in Ole and the police knew, so they felt that
I was safe enough and I went met them with
them for an hour, where the end of it, they
(08:36):
threatened me and vacated the boardroom and he'd said to me,
I know David Hayes, and I'm like, oh, this is
excellent news, this is great. So I rang David Hayes,
you know, famous racing dynasty in Australia. I worked for
his dad for three or four years at Flemington because
I had no education. And David's now leading trainer in
(08:57):
Hong Kong. So I rang David from the boardroom and
we talked for twenty minutes. Obviously I didn't make any
accusations to him. But then I do this man for rape,
And as I say to people, why would you see
someone for rape. I'm just a stay at home mom
from a little country town in Victoria. Like I don't
have those kind of resources. It's absolutely crippled me morally.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I've won.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Their names are now online put there by the Supreme
Court of Melbourne. But I haven't even been compensated for
you Gene, and he signed a confession of sorts and
he's in my documentaries and that happened.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Wow, make it up?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Well, you didn't make it up.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And I think when I see the elements of your case,
the recollection is very striking. You remember the individuals. You
can see the textbook impact on a young child where
you go from being good at school and suddenly your
grades crash, you become uncontrollable, you have all kinds of
issues because you're not being listened to. You're being asked
(10:02):
to sweep this tragic or it was traumatic event under
the carpet.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Crimes, crimes that went on for a week to ten days,
and I reported to the police when I reported three
instances was actually a week to ten days of me
being the honeymoon child of unprotected sex. My brother told me,
and it's assigned Affi David now that they actually rape
me with a stick as well. So when you start
(10:27):
becoming sexually active and you're not stopped, you know, it's
like I wanted to eat chocolates, isn't it. If you've
got a box at chocolates. I mean, you're gonna eat
them till you feel sick of them. And I was
their victim. They were crimes and a child shouldn't be
expected to suck up serious criminal life altering offending. It's
not wrong. And if reporting in the systems that we
(10:49):
have in place worked at and we wouldn't have needed
a raw commission into childhood sexual abuse that ran in
Australia for five years and not being sexist, just being
factually it was fundamentally called for boys. The statistics will
show there are more girl victims than boy victims. But
society and I understand it, have great empathy towards a
young boy that sexually views because it interferes with his
(11:11):
natural masculinity as he's growing up. But to a child
of seven, it doesn't matter whether you're a girl or boy.
The damage is just it doesn't matter that your gender,
The damage is just horrific. And I know because I
have the lived experience, and I call myself a sexpert.
I've done this, I've had an interest in this, and
(11:33):
I'm very passionate about it. Since the age of seven.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I've been calling out for people to come forward with
these stories since I spoke to Fleur.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
If you remember from another episode.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I do that, yes, and the stories are strikingly similar.
Young women, young girls being sexually assaulted, their families, not
wanting to cause a fuss, not wanting to get the
police involved, the victims holding off getting any police action
(12:08):
involved for decades, and then later on going what the hell,
why have I kept quite all these years?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
And then going to the police.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
For somebody else, to protect somebody else, and particularly when
it's protecting a mother or a father, or the church
congregation or the next or neighbors, whoever it is, and
then trying to get justice, being told that yes, we
take historical sexual assault cases seriously, but then coming up
against all kinds of roadblocks and people say, why did
(12:44):
you wait so long?
Speaker 5 (12:46):
And I think that's the answer, is that this is
always what's being asked of people, and I think it's
so frustrating. And you're right, young men, boys have had
a lot of coverage of this wordas I think it's become.
I mean, I think if we were at a survey
of young women, I mean, god knows what the percentage
would be, but it's very high, particularly of your generation.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Maybe it's getting better, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
As an advocate, I would say it's every second woman,
because I'm having these conversations on a daily basis, online,
in person, and I'm really honored to hear the stories
that I've heard, personal stories of people who've never said anything,
but they've never had anyone bowl up to them and say, oh,
I'm a child's six abuse aweness advocate.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Here's my card and.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Then again, you know, I'm just full of all this
trauma and stories to the point, and you would find
the same that you start to see patterns. You just
see patterns of behavior, actions, in actions and regarding people
not reporting or keeping it in the family. I say,
take the personalities out of it. It's crime because it
(13:48):
enables this criminal behavior to just continue unchecked, which is
what happened with Eugene. I know for a fact that
he had other victims, and he was known on the
street as a perpetrator. Why would you stop if you
don't face ramifications from and I mean because he'd been
in Tarana, I've got no doubt he would have been
a victim himself. So it's breaking the cycle by speaking
(14:12):
up about it. But what irks me is that I'm
mad a pocket. I'm mad a pocket. It's destroyed my marriage.
I've got no superannuation and somebody needs to step up,
because if I'm not going to be compensated for the
wealthy one, why aren't I being compensated for the Aboriginal
water of the state of the Victorian government, stolen child,
(14:32):
a person they couldn't control. He was the only one
that my investigation showed escape from not one but two
Romand centers in nineteen sixty eight. Why am I having
to investigate my own case, which is in the end
pretty much what I've done. What are the police get
paid for?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Let's work through what happened in the criminal investigation into
your case.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
What happened I.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Reported on the fourteenth of the fifth twenty fourteen, and
honestly it was the first time in detail that I've
actually spoken about what happened to me. I've just reiterated
that I only stated three cases of digital rape, sexual
abuse by Eugene on the first night, and a gang rate.
I remember the policeman said to me, you know for
(15:17):
the gang rap, did they penetrate you? And I grew
up in this really holy I'm a prude, Adam. I
was never promiscuous, and I remember just thinking, I'm not
going to answer that question.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I was seven, I was a child.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
I'm not going to sit here with a grown adult
man and answer that question. I just pulled the blind down.
I didn't answer that question. I just didn't want to
talk about it. Why would you? At that point, I
hadn't had any counseling or therapy, so I wasn't practice.
You get quite emotional, and he said to me, what
do you hope to achieve? And I couldn't answer him,
(15:52):
but in my head I just thought, jeez, it'd be
nice to talk about this without sucking, because I literally
couldn't have a normal conversation because it was so traumatic.
I'm kickings, aren't I? Because now I can just talk
about it. This happened to me. I'm sharing what happened
to me. All victims, when they speak, will tell you
(16:14):
the same thing that they don't want it to happen
to other children. And if their voice and their lived
experience helps, well, I'm putting it out there because young
children getting through their childhood safe and sexually safe is
more important than my little feelings. So yes, the investigation
went to Perth from the detective in Morabin, and then
(16:36):
it all just completely went dead and quiet, and I
was even thinking, you know, dark thoughts, like has this
wealthy person been able to make this go away? Because
they're just hot cold with their investigation. One minute it's shut,
the next minute it's open. Next minute he understands that
I'm starting to do stuff, and then he reopens the case.
(16:57):
He took him a year and a half nearly to
find Eugene. I wasn't active on social media by choice.
I was a private person, and I got on Facebook
pretty much found him in ten minutes.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Adam.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
That just sickened and disgusted me. It was just a
very clear we're just pretending to investigate, We're not actually
really going to do anything.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
But so in the end the case goes no further.
It's sort of closed, is that right?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
No, well, it was closed until he realized that I
was doing stuff, and then he reopened it and in
the meantime I had started legal proceedings. So after the
Royal Commission, one of the recommendations was it's an average
of thirty three years of children speaking up.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Mine was a little bit longer.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I still had young children at home and it impacted
on my parenting, and it impacted greatly financially because I
was still at school. I had to sell a unit
to pay my police identified perpetrator and they called it
my income and I had to pay seventeen thousand dollars
of what the children had received for schooling, part A
(18:05):
tax and part B. So the financial bird was immense
and it still is today.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
You paid that to the perpetrator, yeah, in.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
A personal check.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
So how well I sued him unsuccessfully, so even though
they'd changed the statue of limitations laws and turns.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Out I was the test case.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
He appealed and a county court woman judge looked at
it and ruled that we go on to trial. And
because he had the money, he appealed to the Court
of Appeals in two parts, one to get it thrown
out and the other one to get his identity hidden.
And I couldn't afford to fight both and lose both,
so I just fought to get him into court. And
(18:44):
I had empathy for the fact that they were only fourteen,
even though I was only seven.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And there was two of them.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
I wasn't out to crucify or dirty his good name,
whatever may be. But when the judges ruled in his
favor that I couldn't sue him, they said it would
be an abusive power. The real abusive power was two
fourteen year old with a seven year old and I
had a bill of one hundred and twenty thousand payable
(19:10):
to him and his lawyer, who threatened me in person
and online. He hired a law firm to pursue me.
I just opened up my emails one day and there's
a bill for one hundred and twenty thousand from this
other law firm, and I just rang them and said,
I want to speak to the principal who I got
and I just said, you've just sent me a bill
for one hundred and twenty thousand. If you don't know
(19:32):
what it's for, I suggest you google it and do
not contact me again. And he didn't. They didn't pretty
decent of them, really. I just said, cease and desist.
Even though I'm uneducated, I've seen these things. I've heard
this terminology.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
So you left school at the age of twelve, Maria
because of this abuse, didn't you?
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Yeah, twelve midterm And mum had taught hsc VCE when
she was twenty one. Clearly a woman who believed in
education for girls who leaves school at twelve, you know.
And when I went to core for I went and
worked with racehorses. When I went there, I realize now,
And not only do I realize now, Adam, but it's
(20:12):
coming out constantly. I was surrounded by abuse, young people
finding solace and soothing themselves with working with horses. And
there's been two cases recently from Corfield at that time.
Historic cases just pop up, people that I know. You
get perpetrators, you get victims, and the perpetrators are always bigger, stronger, older, wealthier,
(20:38):
more powerful, etc.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
That's how it works. But victims are fighting back.
Speaker 6 (20:46):
Yeah, yours is a caution retail, Marita, because I've spent
years telling people they should bring these historic sexual assault
cases to police and to fight them.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And that's every fiber of my body says justice should
be done. But when you look at the statistics, it's
one or two percent of these cases come to a conviction.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
And so you flip that that's a guaranteed ninety nine
percent fail.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, and so you're one of the few that continues
to fight. You make a civil action which breaks the bank.
And I mean, would you do anything differently now, I mean,
is a silly question.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Yes, I'm glad you asked me that I would have
hired a private investigator. And that's what I would recommend
people do. And of course, now we've got the power
of social media, so I tell people, whether it be
religion or social media, take the best and leave the rest.
Because people are very hostile about the damage it does
to children. But the flip side is it can also
(21:44):
give victims the voice, and it also is great entrapment
for perpetrators. Like we had a case here in balorat
high school not long ago where our children went. Lovely man,
lovely teacher and the day the police knocked on his
door for inappropriate relations with the student, they seized his devices.
She was all over over. He resigned that day. The
(22:04):
victim families tied ribbons at the school and the school
left them there. The school took full ownership. They made
a statement, I mean, you look at the other Elstenwick case.
She's facing seventy four charges and the school board helps
her flee in the middle of the night to protect
their good name. Well, actually, if you had any brains,
your good name would be to frog march her down
(22:25):
and ander over.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
To the police.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
It's ridiculous. And then the law didn't bring her back.
Her victims board her back. They used their civil payouts
to film her secretly, and the victims do all the
heavy lifting. That story has just been released on a
documentary on Netflix. But as a victim, I've had to
make my own documentaries. Nobody's stepped up. I've had to
(22:48):
go out on a limb big time.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Well, you're full of dash.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
You made that documentary You be the Judge, which is
one awards, and it's a stark tilling of this tale.
And I was particularly interested in your fellow victim advocate,
Ingrid Irwin, I believe her name is, who said she's
a lawyer. She's a lawyer, and she said, don't bother
(23:16):
with the legal route. You're better off looking at counseling route,
the medical route.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
What do you think of that?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Now?
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Well, it's really heartbreaking because again I go back to
if you're reporting and you've got a one percent conviction rate,
that's a guaranteed ninety nine percent failure rate. And if
you look at it and do the work, this is
a worldwide You know, you've got Bill Cosby, You've got
six decades, sixty victims, and I think he's free now.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Now why is he freeze? Because he's wealthy.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
I mean his enablers were medical practitioners allowing him to
purchase drugs for his date raping. And you know you
could be giving them to your daughter, Adam, and she
might be on medication for epilepsy.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Now they're saying, oh, release the list, release the list
for Ebstein and I'm like, dam bat lists. Just lock
up perpetrators because miners cannot consent. Oh, it's just ridiculous
when you look at it, you know. And you had
the premiere at the heart of the Royal Commission saying
we see.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
You, we hear you, we believe you. How does that help?
Speaker 2 (24:21):
What struck me in your documentary was the extent you
went to to get to the perpetrators you found, Eugene
love it.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
How did you do that?
Speaker 4 (24:32):
I went on Facebook co covertly, just putting little posts
up and it happened really quickly. Three women from various
backgrounds just.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Got behind me. I didn't know them.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Somebody local asked me to meet them at the local shop,
and I didn't know who I was going to meet.
They had an alias on and I just had put
enough out there for people that she was beautiful. Actually,
it's been some really wonderful parts, heartwarming that while these
women were on the street in Collingwood discussing what's the
(25:06):
best thing to do because they knew him as they
were a little bit frightened of him, he was in
a mobility scooter and while they were discussing the best way,
and they were liaisoning was someone that knew him who
was in Werribe, and that person was offering to come.
In which case we do have to stand in the
street and wait while this person came. And while they
were discussing what's the best thing to do, I just
(25:28):
went to him and he was parked in front of
a tab and I've got a photo of that, and
it's just so weird. And he used to follow Gary
and Sebastian Murphy, so he was pretty excited.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
To meet me.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
But there was a hidden agenda and he came my way.
He didn't know about the court case. He'd been interviewed
by the police. And when I said to him, I've
publicly named you as raping me as a child, and
it's online and it'll be online forever, he just came
my way. I just felt he was like butter. He
(26:01):
was a really smart person. And his former wife had
lived in a car with her family growing up and
become Victoria's first registered Indigenous female barrister.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
It's that amazing, it is.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
And he freely admitted. He freely admitted his involvement in
the offenses.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yes, and I've been seeking.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I went and met a lawyer last year in Melbourne
from a different law firm, and he said, if you
can get his criminal record and his juvenile delinquent files
and I look at them, I might be able to
bring a case on your behalf. So I emailed my
socket detective that day immediately and straightway he responded and said, no,
(26:43):
can't help. So I contacted Anthony Carbine, so he's the
Minister for Police, Crime, Prevention and Racing and his aide
i'd met who had previously worked at the ballot at
Turf Club and they've just stonewalled me.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I've just been down.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Every rabbit hole, I've chased every and of to date
nothing I think.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
You've done more than going rabbit holes. You've dug your
own tunnels. You've done your best. And I wonder why
why wasn't Eugene then charged. If you've got someone that
you've got him on tape confessing.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
To so weird, it's so weird. And it was so
good of him, you know.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
It really warmed my heart and it helped heal the
private racial vilification that I hid within me, him being
the first Aboriginal that I'd ever met. I also read
a book called Jackson's Track, and it allowed me. When
you're just internalizing everything, you're kind of not healing. So
(27:42):
in that way, even though I kind of poohood therapy
and I am in therapy, I went yesterday funded by you,
the taxpayer, my pleasure, thank you, by the Melbourne Magistrates'
Court to the tune of over six thousand dollars, which
I was pretty annoyed because given that my trauma now
is mostly financial, and I am grateful that they have
(28:04):
helped definitely. And I mean even if you're just using
the system as an advocate to know how to help others,
that's useful as well.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
And you say you had rejected the idea of therapy
before this, why was that?
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Well, I was busy and I couldn't afford it. I
still had children at home. When all this, you know,
the body keeps the score and the trauma comes back,
so as much as people try, often when it comes
back and it resurfaces, people have a breakdown. So it
all kind of goes hand in hand if you read
the stories like Blood on the Rosary is a perfect example,
(28:41):
which was based at Rupertswood's Alesian College and my brother
Bernard had been a border there as dad was dying,
so we all kind of put our heads together and
wonder if he was abused.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
But he denies it.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
But often people will deny it because you're not trying
to remember, you're trying to forget.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
In your documentary the Judge, there's sections that you're there
with your husband and he's explaining the impact it's had
on him. I think at the time of the documentary
you were sort of living in the house together, but
your marriage was effectively over. And he looks like a
nice guy for all I can see, and it's just
taken a massive toll on him and you, Yeah, I'm
(29:24):
very sorry for that.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Well, I owe him fifty thousand dollars and I won't
stop until I get it back, and pain like he's
worked very hard, diligently, well respected for forty years in racing,
followed by two ambulances getting up at three and four
in the morning as I have, and that money's not
easy to come by when you have to work for
it seven days a week like that.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
So it really irks me.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
And I hope that this guy's family and I've had
people contact me convertly.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
They're frightened of him. I'm not.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
You know, the truth hurts some people. So if he
doesn't want to admit it and fix the situation, maybe
the next generation will say, well, that happened at Grandma's house,
and obviously the woman's telling the truth, and it's a
women's rights issue. It's bigger than me. I'm just the
bunny bringing it forth. What's the point in changing the
statue of limitations laws for child sexual abuse to then
(30:21):
say it's too long ago. If I go to court
and my evidence is given and I've failed due to
the passage of time, at least you've had a hearing.
But to have to pay to not be heard, that's
a gracious courage of justice.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And as my life, the whole thing is, And you
can talk about advocating for other people, but it's still
your life, your situation. And you've in a situation where
the police investigations effectively ended your loss of civil cases,
put you well behind the appall financially. What is left
for you to do to get justice in your case?
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Well, Eugene backed me into the redress scheme and absolutely
busted my boiler. I got a public petition for that
and I've probably got nearly twelve thousand signatures, and now
I had under on a paper copy including eugenes, and
when submitted it was denied and an appeal was put
in about a year ago, and I haven't heard anything.
(31:15):
And the top amount of money you can get you've
got to have penetration, which I had through digital rape,
is only one hundred and fifty thousands, and nobody gets that.
If I got any compensation from that, it stops any
other legal avenue and it would only be my own
money back, so there'd be no compensation. It would just
(31:35):
purely be my own money back for speaking out. So
it's a smelly, smelly redress scheme. Why do they call
it a scheme? You know it's just insulting to victims.
But maybe, you know, if the family feel heat from me,
maybe someone's somewhere along the line will do the right
thing and give back my money and maybe even some compensation.
(31:59):
But at the end of the day, if I can
live an ease and function, it's only money. I would
like my money back. I shouldn't be able to pocket
for merely telling the truth. And if the opp aren't
going to bring a case on my behalf, and that
that is beyond reasonable doubt. Well, let me go civil,
(32:21):
which is in all probability. Nobody. I've been shunned in
lots of areas, but nobody's called me a liar.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yes, I don't think you're going away, Mariata. And I
really appreciate you telling your story, and I wish I
could give you more comfort or solution or some advice.
But you've done everything you possibly can, including the redress scheme.
I've heard of boys who were in Taranta and was
simply it he said, versus he said, and they got compensation.
But you're somehow tonight, even when you've got the perpetrator
(32:50):
signing your petition.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
What else do you want me to do?
Speaker 3 (32:54):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
I have no idea him when and Eugene is now deceased.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Yes, I thought when he passed, I thought, well, he's
gone to meet his maker with a pretty clear conscience.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Though it was pretty good of him too.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
He had a young boy, and I'd found the photo
of him and his son, and I took that and
put it under his nose, and you could see he
sort of melted. And I said, you love that little boy,
don't you, and he said yes, And I showed him
picture of me with mum and I said, well, my
mum loved me too, but something awful happened. And as
a child, and the stress that she had with nursing
(33:28):
her husband and then him dying and then leaving her
with children and other stresses like having five boys, getting
cars and licenses and driving and what have you.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I watched her as a child.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
She was so upset about what had happened to me
and that she felt like she hadn't been able to
protect me, that she had a complete nervous breakdown, Adam,
and I was the witness to that. No child should
have to go through that either.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
The trauma goes on and on and on. Thank you
so much for sharing a story to that, Marita.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Oh, thank you for amplifying it on my behalf and
gutting me speaking and naming names and potentially opening myself
up to litigation while there's another way into court. But
he said he was innocent in the press. But he
hasn't countersued me, which that's good because that would have
been pretty stressful. But I cannot legally threaten him, but
(34:22):
I can threaten myself if it just gets too hard.
I think that they should do the right thing and
try and find a solution which allows me to get
on with the rest of my life. It's heartbreaking, and
I imagine if a me and dollar's compensation came into
the home as opposed to a deficit of one hundred thousand,
everything would have been hunky dory.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
That's Ruda Murphy as a cautionary tale historical sexual assault
that goes unpunished. And this really gives me a dilemma
because I've always advised women police are now listening, go
and bring your stories to them, seek justice. But Marita's
story gives me second thoughts, and you should watch her
(35:09):
documentary on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
You be the judge.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
It may well be that you need to consider other avenues.
Maybe it's counseling, but there are so many more people
out there, and I think the best thing we can
do is to have these discussions, and maybe there are
lawyers out there who can find a way around this
in the commercial sphere to make these perpetrators pay where
(35:33):
it hurts from their pocket. If you can't jail them,
at least take their money and compensate the victims.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Like Marita Murphy, if.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You are a victim of this kind of offense or
any others, do call crime stoppers when they're under triple three,
triple zero. You don't at the cops, so they're not
helping you. Send me an email Adam Shanner writer at
gmail dot com, and I'll do my best to advise you.
I don't want to give you false hope, but I
think the first thing is to find your voice and
tell the story the way Marita has.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Thank you for listening today. This has been Adam shanned
for real crime
Appoche production.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This podcast contains references to the sexual assault of children
and domestic violence. It's not recommended for younger listeners, and
discretion is advised. Welcome to Real Crime with Adam Shand.
I'm your host, Adam Shand. Since beginning this podcast, I've
been approached by a number of women seeking justice for
(00:32):
historical sexual assaults that have occurred, sometimes decades ago. My
sense of outrage and justice has moved me to advise
and to take their.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Cases to police.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I've said this based on a perception that police are
more ready to pursue offenders.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Even after many, many years.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Today's case we're discussing makes me think twice. In nineteen
sixty eight, seven year old Marita Murphy was gang raped
by two teenage boys, a crime witness by a third.
She was discouraged from making a police report of the
time by her family and suffered in silence until twenty fourteen.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
The policeman said to me, lady, I don't know what
happened to you, but you need counseling.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
The police investigation went nowhere, and so Marita was left
to bring a civil suit against the perpetrators.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
She lost that case and is.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Now one hundred thousand dollars out of pocket.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
My childhood was over at seven. It wouldn't matter how
much money someone gave me. Now I can't go and
buy a new childhood.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
This is a cautionary tale that suggests the odds are
still stacked against the victims. Maurita has told her story
in an award winning documentary called You Be the Judge,
which you can find on YouTube. Breita keeps fighting for
justice and it's my pleasure to welcome her to real crime.
I'm Marita, my pleasure. It's a long story. Start at
(01:57):
the beginning.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
It's a lifetime. My father died first of July nineteen
sixty eight. I lived in a Catholic community up in Gippsland,
past Pakenham and Nagoon, and it was a pretty sheltered existence.
But Mum got sick and I was the youngest of seven,
so she had a fair bit on her plate and
(02:20):
I was home with Gran, who I worked out was
eighty four at that time and Mum had been an
only child, so Gran was quite frail and not used
to lots of children. But I was picked up and
taken to Melbourne by a family. There I was suffered
very serious sexual abuse that was life altering and continues
(02:41):
to plague me to this day.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Now, your memories are very clear about what happened, and
that's the difference to many other cases I've covered.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I mean, I know it's painful, but.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Do you want to share a little bit of a
story so people can get an idea of what you suffered.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
I think you know a lot of people have repressed memories,
and I don't think I ever fell into that categree.
You're not trying to remember, you're trying to forget, but
you are imprinted. And the adults knew because I told
on these youths, and so my voice had power at
the age of seven, and Mum supported me because when
(03:21):
she got me back, she knew what had happened. And
I reported to the police in May twenty fourteen, as
the Royal Commission was into childhood sexual abuse was running
in Australia, with Ballarat featuring very highly and I kind
of just wanted to purge it. But when the police
(03:42):
found the main one, what's hard to say I was
the main one. He wasn't the main offender, but it
was his family's home that I was at. I had
this sense of relief that, oh, thank Heavens, this is over.
But to be the truth of it was that was
the beginning, because he said to the police when he
was interviewed, that he did not know me, and he
(04:03):
did not know his foster brother, an Aboriginal youth that
was staying with them at the time. His name was
Eugene Samuel Lovett, and I'm grateful to his mother to
this day that she blessed him with an exotic Greek
name meaning well born, because if he had a just
been called Fred or Barry, possibly we wouldn't have been
(04:25):
able to identify him. But I grew up with the
imprint of that was the first Aborigining I'd ever met.
He was a juvenile delinquent, he was a criminal. He
went on to become a serial predator. And if they're
not stopped, and he obviously wasn't stopped with me, and
he probably didn't face any consequences, that is the thing.
(04:47):
They just keep on reoffending. But to his credit, he
did the right thing. And when he passed away, I
think in February twenty twenty, him and I had made peace,
and it's his support that's enabled me to speak freely.
I haven't been sued. The other party was a very
wealthy Melbourne entrepreneurial businessman and he's lied. He's committed perjury
(05:12):
in the EFFI David to court for the civil case.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
He signed.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
One of the questions he signed was that the two
families weren't known to one another. Well, why would my
sister have his home address and his parents' details in
her address book if we weren't known to one another.
But he's faced no consequences for his lies and I'm
out a pocket over one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
That rankles a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I'm sure it does.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
We won't name him so he can't cause more financial
damage to you or I. You named him previously and
we won't do that again. But it was a simple
matter for him to deny this for so long as
you were left with few options with the police.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
What did the police tell you?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Well, they were hot and cold.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Initially I reported in Ballarat and the detective here did
no good, and I hadn't included anybody much else. I
just purged this what was within me, trying to get
rid of it. And he asked if he could ring
and speak to my sister. She was the oldest of
the family by eleven years to me, and he rang
(06:21):
her in wa and she pulled out the address book
and gave him the address. But as a detective, he
didn't actually asked her to spell the surname. And it
can be pronounced and sound the same and have three
different spellings. I've seen three different spellings. My brother on
mum's obituary had spelt it wrong and that's what he
(06:42):
was dealing with. It was incorrect. So when he saw
that it was indeed a bayside suburb in Melbourne of Elstenwick,
it went to Morabin and the socket detective that took
it up there. I've never even met him, Adam. I've
traveled from Ballarat to Morabin on three occasions. He rang
my sister and she's obviously spelt the surname and he's
(07:03):
got him straight away. So he rang me very excitedly
and said I've interviewed him and the response was that
he's never heard of me, and he's never heard of
the Aborigine, his foster brother. But surprisingly then he went
one step further, this detective and he said that he
was a chance to go to Perth for something, and
(07:24):
he interviewed his younger brother, who was the witness to
the gang rape, and they wouldn't have been expecting that.
And the younger brother said that I didn't exist, but
Eugene did exist. So if I'm a seven year old
little girl from up in the country, how the hell
could I know they had an aboriginal juvenile delinquent staying
(07:46):
with them. So I just said to the police, well,
I'm going to approach this wealthy individual myself, and they
said you can't do that, and I'm like, who's going
to stop me? I'm an adult. He has a public place,
so I went there. He wasn't there, which was probably
a fortunate thing because I was getting angry. Howdare you
(08:07):
treat me in this manner? Callous? Just so sorry, just
do the right thing.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
But I left some.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Information there for him, and his lawyer rang me and
set up a meeting in Tuaq. I went alone, but
my then husband and my sister, some people from mary
in Ole and the police knew, so they felt that
I was safe enough and I went met them with
them for an hour, where the end of it, they
(08:36):
threatened me and vacated the boardroom and he'd said to me,
I know David Hayes, and I'm like, oh, this is
excellent news, this is great. So I rang David Hayes,
you know, famous racing dynasty in Australia. I worked for
his dad for three or four years at Flemington because
I had no education. And David's now leading trainer in
(08:57):
Hong Kong. So I rang David from the boardroom and
we talked for twenty minutes. Obviously I didn't make any
accusations to him. But then I do this man for rape,
And as I say to people, why would you see
someone for rape. I'm just a stay at home mom
from a little country town in Victoria. Like I don't
have those kind of resources. It's absolutely crippled me morally.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I've won.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Their names are now online put there by the Supreme
Court of Melbourne. But I haven't even been compensated for
you Gene, and he signed a confession of sorts and
he's in my documentaries and that happened.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Wow, make it up?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Well, you didn't make it up.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And I think when I see the elements of your case,
the recollection is very striking. You remember the individuals. You
can see the textbook impact on a young child where
you go from being good at school and suddenly your
grades crash, you become uncontrollable, you have all kinds of
issues because you're not being listened to. You're being asked
(10:02):
to sweep this tragic or it was traumatic event under
the carpet.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Crimes, crimes that went on for a week to ten days,
and I reported to the police when I reported three
instances was actually a week to ten days of me
being the honeymoon child of unprotected sex. My brother told me,
and it's assigned Affi David now that they actually rape
me with a stick as well. So when you start
(10:27):
becoming sexually active and you're not stopped, you know, it's
like I wanted to eat chocolates, isn't it. If you've
got a box at chocolates. I mean, you're gonna eat
them till you feel sick of them. And I was
their victim. They were crimes and a child shouldn't be
expected to suck up serious criminal life altering offending. It's
not wrong. And if reporting in the systems that we
(10:49):
have in place worked at and we wouldn't have needed
a raw commission into childhood sexual abuse that ran in
Australia for five years and not being sexist, just being
factually it was fundamentally called for boys. The statistics will
show there are more girl victims than boy victims. But
society and I understand it, have great empathy towards a
young boy that sexually views because it interferes with his
(11:11):
natural masculinity as he's growing up. But to a child
of seven, it doesn't matter whether you're a girl or boy.
The damage is just it doesn't matter that your gender,
The damage is just horrific. And I know because I
have the lived experience, and I call myself a sexpert.
I've done this, I've had an interest in this, and
(11:33):
I'm very passionate about it. Since the age of seven.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I've been calling out for people to come forward with
these stories since I spoke to Fleur.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
If you remember from another episode.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I do that, yes, and the stories are strikingly similar.
Young women, young girls being sexually assaulted, their families, not
wanting to cause a fuss, not wanting to get the
police involved, the victims holding off getting any police action
(12:08):
involved for decades, and then later on going what the hell,
why have I kept quite all these years?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
And then going to the police.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
For somebody else, to protect somebody else, and particularly when
it's protecting a mother or a father, or the church
congregation or the next or neighbors, whoever it is, and
then trying to get justice, being told that yes, we
take historical sexual assault cases seriously, but then coming up
against all kinds of roadblocks and people say, why did
(12:44):
you wait so long?
Speaker 5 (12:46):
And I think that's the answer, is that this is
always what's being asked of people, and I think it's
so frustrating. And you're right, young men, boys have had
a lot of coverage of this wordas I think it's become.
I mean, I think if we were at a survey
of young women, I mean, god knows what the percentage
would be, but it's very high, particularly of your generation.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Maybe it's getting better, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
As an advocate, I would say it's every second woman,
because I'm having these conversations on a daily basis, online,
in person, and I'm really honored to hear the stories
that I've heard, personal stories of people who've never said anything,
but they've never had anyone bowl up to them and say, oh,
I'm a child's six abuse aweness advocate.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Here's my card and.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Then again, you know, I'm just full of all this
trauma and stories to the point, and you would find
the same that you start to see patterns. You just
see patterns of behavior, actions, in actions and regarding people
not reporting or keeping it in the family. I say,
take the personalities out of it. It's crime because it
(13:48):
enables this criminal behavior to just continue unchecked, which is
what happened with Eugene. I know for a fact that
he had other victims, and he was known on the
street as a perpetrator. Why would you stop if you
don't face ramifications from and I mean because he'd been
in Tarana, I've got no doubt he would have been
a victim himself. So it's breaking the cycle by speaking
(14:12):
up about it. But what irks me is that I'm
mad a pocket. I'm mad a pocket. It's destroyed my marriage.
I've got no superannuation and somebody needs to step up,
because if I'm not going to be compensated for the
wealthy one, why aren't I being compensated for the Aboriginal
water of the state of the Victorian government, stolen child,
(14:32):
a person they couldn't control. He was the only one
that my investigation showed escape from not one but two
Romand centers in nineteen sixty eight. Why am I having
to investigate my own case, which is in the end
pretty much what I've done. What are the police get
paid for?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Let's work through what happened in the criminal investigation into
your case.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
What happened I.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Reported on the fourteenth of the fifth twenty fourteen, and
honestly it was the first time in detail that I've
actually spoken about what happened to me. I've just reiterated
that I only stated three cases of digital rape, sexual
abuse by Eugene on the first night, and a gang rate.
I remember the policeman said to me, you know for
(15:17):
the gang rap, did they penetrate you? And I grew
up in this really holy I'm a prude, Adam. I
was never promiscuous, and I remember just thinking, I'm not
going to answer that question.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I was seven, I was a child.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
I'm not going to sit here with a grown adult
man and answer that question. I just pulled the blind down.
I didn't answer that question. I just didn't want to
talk about it. Why would you? At that point, I
hadn't had any counseling or therapy, so I wasn't practice.
You get quite emotional, and he said to me, what
do you hope to achieve? And I couldn't answer him,
(15:52):
but in my head I just thought, jeez, it'd be
nice to talk about this without sucking, because I literally
couldn't have a normal conversation because it was so traumatic.
I'm kickings, aren't I? Because now I can just talk
about it. This happened to me. I'm sharing what happened
to me. All victims, when they speak, will tell you
(16:14):
the same thing that they don't want it to happen
to other children. And if their voice and their lived
experience helps, well, I'm putting it out there because young
children getting through their childhood safe and sexually safe is
more important than my little feelings. So yes, the investigation
went to Perth from the detective in Morabin, and then
(16:36):
it all just completely went dead and quiet, and I
was even thinking, you know, dark thoughts, like has this
wealthy person been able to make this go away? Because
they're just hot cold with their investigation. One minute it's shut,
the next minute it's open. Next minute he understands that
I'm starting to do stuff, and then he reopens the case.
(16:57):
He took him a year and a half nearly to
find Eugene. I wasn't active on social media by choice.
I was a private person, and I got on Facebook
pretty much found him in ten minutes.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Adam.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
That just sickened and disgusted me. It was just a
very clear we're just pretending to investigate, We're not actually
really going to do anything.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
But so in the end the case goes no further.
It's sort of closed, is that right?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
No, well, it was closed until he realized that I
was doing stuff, and then he reopened it and in
the meantime I had started legal proceedings. So after the
Royal Commission, one of the recommendations was it's an average
of thirty three years of children speaking up.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Mine was a little bit longer.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I still had young children at home and it impacted
on my parenting, and it impacted greatly financially because I
was still at school. I had to sell a unit
to pay my police identified perpetrator and they called it
my income and I had to pay seventeen thousand dollars
of what the children had received for schooling, part A
(18:05):
tax and part B. So the financial bird was immense
and it still is today.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
You paid that to the perpetrator, yeah, in.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
A personal check.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
So how well I sued him unsuccessfully, so even though
they'd changed the statue of limitations laws and turns.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Out I was the test case.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
He appealed and a county court woman judge looked at
it and ruled that we go on to trial. And
because he had the money, he appealed to the Court
of Appeals in two parts, one to get it thrown
out and the other one to get his identity hidden.
And I couldn't afford to fight both and lose both,
so I just fought to get him into court. And
(18:44):
I had empathy for the fact that they were only fourteen,
even though I was only seven.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And there was two of them.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
I wasn't out to crucify or dirty his good name,
whatever may be. But when the judges ruled in his
favor that I couldn't sue him, they said it would
be an abusive power. The real abusive power was two
fourteen year old with a seven year old and I
had a bill of one hundred and twenty thousand payable
(19:10):
to him and his lawyer, who threatened me in person
and online. He hired a law firm to pursue me.
I just opened up my emails one day and there's
a bill for one hundred and twenty thousand from this
other law firm, and I just rang them and said,
I want to speak to the principal who I got
and I just said, you've just sent me a bill
for one hundred and twenty thousand. If you don't know
(19:32):
what it's for, I suggest you google it and do
not contact me again. And he didn't. They didn't pretty
decent of them, really. I just said, cease and desist.
Even though I'm uneducated, I've seen these things. I've heard
this terminology.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
So you left school at the age of twelve, Maria
because of this abuse, didn't you?
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Yeah, twelve midterm And mum had taught hsc VCE when
she was twenty one. Clearly a woman who believed in
education for girls who leaves school at twelve, you know.
And when I went to core for I went and
worked with racehorses. When I went there, I realize now,
And not only do I realize now, Adam, but it's
(20:12):
coming out constantly. I was surrounded by abuse, young people
finding solace and soothing themselves with working with horses. And
there's been two cases recently from Corfield at that time.
Historic cases just pop up, people that I know. You
get perpetrators, you get victims, and the perpetrators are always bigger, stronger, older, wealthier,
(20:38):
more powerful, etc.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
That's how it works. But victims are fighting back.
Speaker 6 (20:46):
Yeah, yours is a caution retail, Marita, because I've spent
years telling people they should bring these historic sexual assault
cases to police and to fight them.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And that's every fiber of my body says justice should
be done. But when you look at the statistics, it's
one or two percent of these cases come to a conviction.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
And so you flip that that's a guaranteed ninety nine
percent fail.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, and so you're one of the few that continues
to fight. You make a civil action which breaks the bank.
And I mean, would you do anything differently now, I mean,
is a silly question.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Yes, I'm glad you asked me that I would have
hired a private investigator. And that's what I would recommend
people do. And of course, now we've got the power
of social media, so I tell people, whether it be
religion or social media, take the best and leave the rest.
Because people are very hostile about the damage it does
to children. But the flip side is it can also
(21:44):
give victims the voice, and it also is great entrapment
for perpetrators. Like we had a case here in balorat
high school not long ago where our children went. Lovely man,
lovely teacher and the day the police knocked on his
door for inappropriate relations with the student, they seized his devices.
She was all over over. He resigned that day. The
(22:04):
victim families tied ribbons at the school and the school
left them there. The school took full ownership. They made
a statement, I mean, you look at the other Elstenwick case.
She's facing seventy four charges and the school board helps
her flee in the middle of the night to protect
their good name. Well, actually, if you had any brains,
your good name would be to frog march her down
(22:25):
and ander over.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
To the police.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
It's ridiculous. And then the law didn't bring her back.
Her victims board her back. They used their civil payouts
to film her secretly, and the victims do all the
heavy lifting. That story has just been released on a
documentary on Netflix. But as a victim, I've had to
make my own documentaries. Nobody's stepped up. I've had to
(22:48):
go out on a limb big time.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Well, you're full of dash.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
You made that documentary You be the Judge, which is
one awards, and it's a stark tilling of this tale.
And I was particularly interested in your fellow victim advocate,
Ingrid Irwin, I believe her name is, who said she's
a lawyer. She's a lawyer, and she said, don't bother
(23:16):
with the legal route. You're better off looking at counseling route,
the medical route.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
What do you think of that?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Now?
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Well, it's really heartbreaking because again I go back to
if you're reporting and you've got a one percent conviction rate,
that's a guaranteed ninety nine percent failure rate. And if
you look at it and do the work, this is
a worldwide You know, you've got Bill Cosby, You've got
six decades, sixty victims, and I think he's free now.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Now why is he freeze? Because he's wealthy.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
I mean his enablers were medical practitioners allowing him to
purchase drugs for his date raping. And you know you
could be giving them to your daughter, Adam, and she
might be on medication for epilepsy.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Now they're saying, oh, release the list, release the list
for Ebstein and I'm like, dam bat lists. Just lock
up perpetrators because miners cannot consent. Oh, it's just ridiculous
when you look at it, you know. And you had
the premiere at the heart of the Royal Commission saying
we see.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
You, we hear you, we believe you. How does that help?
Speaker 2 (24:21):
What struck me in your documentary was the extent you
went to to get to the perpetrators you found, Eugene
love it.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
How did you do that?
Speaker 4 (24:32):
I went on Facebook co covertly, just putting little posts
up and it happened really quickly. Three women from various
backgrounds just.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Got behind me. I didn't know them.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Somebody local asked me to meet them at the local shop,
and I didn't know who I was going to meet.
They had an alias on and I just had put
enough out there for people that she was beautiful. Actually,
it's been some really wonderful parts, heartwarming that while these
women were on the street in Collingwood discussing what's the
(25:06):
best thing to do because they knew him as they
were a little bit frightened of him, he was in
a mobility scooter and while they were discussing the best way,
and they were liaisoning was someone that knew him who
was in Werribe, and that person was offering to come.
In which case we do have to stand in the
street and wait while this person came. And while they
were discussing what's the best thing to do, I just
(25:28):
went to him and he was parked in front of
a tab and I've got a photo of that, and
it's just so weird. And he used to follow Gary
and Sebastian Murphy, so he was pretty excited.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
To meet me.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
But there was a hidden agenda and he came my way.
He didn't know about the court case. He'd been interviewed
by the police. And when I said to him, I've
publicly named you as raping me as a child, and
it's online and it'll be online forever, he just came
my way. I just felt he was like butter. He
(26:01):
was a really smart person. And his former wife had
lived in a car with her family growing up and
become Victoria's first registered Indigenous female barrister.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
It's that amazing, it is.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
And he freely admitted. He freely admitted his involvement in
the offenses.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yes, and I've been seeking.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I went and met a lawyer last year in Melbourne
from a different law firm, and he said, if you
can get his criminal record and his juvenile delinquent files
and I look at them, I might be able to
bring a case on your behalf. So I emailed my
socket detective that day immediately and straightway he responded and said, no,
(26:43):
can't help. So I contacted Anthony Carbine, so he's the
Minister for Police, Crime, Prevention and Racing and his aide
i'd met who had previously worked at the ballot at
Turf Club and they've just stonewalled me.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
I've just been down.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
Every rabbit hole, I've chased every and of to date
nothing I think.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
You've done more than going rabbit holes. You've dug your
own tunnels. You've done your best. And I wonder why
why wasn't Eugene then charged. If you've got someone that
you've got him on tape confessing.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
To so weird, it's so weird. And it was so
good of him, you know.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
It really warmed my heart and it helped heal the
private racial vilification that I hid within me, him being
the first Aboriginal that I'd ever met. I also read
a book called Jackson's Track, and it allowed me. When
you're just internalizing everything, you're kind of not healing. So
(27:42):
in that way, even though I kind of poohood therapy
and I am in therapy, I went yesterday funded by you,
the taxpayer, my pleasure, thank you, by the Melbourne Magistrates'
Court to the tune of over six thousand dollars, which
I was pretty annoyed because given that my trauma now
is mostly financial, and I am grateful that they have
(28:04):
helped definitely. And I mean even if you're just using
the system as an advocate to know how to help others,
that's useful as well.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
And you say you had rejected the idea of therapy
before this, why was that?
Speaker 4 (28:19):
Well, I was busy and I couldn't afford it. I
still had children at home. When all this, you know,
the body keeps the score and the trauma comes back,
so as much as people try, often when it comes
back and it resurfaces, people have a breakdown. So it
all kind of goes hand in hand if you read
the stories like Blood on the Rosary is a perfect example,
(28:41):
which was based at Rupertswood's Alesian College and my brother
Bernard had been a border there as dad was dying,
so we all kind of put our heads together and
wonder if he was abused.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
But he denies it.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
But often people will deny it because you're not trying
to remember, you're trying to forget.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
In your documentary the Judge, there's sections that you're there
with your husband and he's explaining the impact it's had
on him. I think at the time of the documentary
you were sort of living in the house together, but
your marriage was effectively over. And he looks like a
nice guy for all I can see, and it's just
taken a massive toll on him and you, Yeah, I'm
(29:24):
very sorry for that.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Well, I owe him fifty thousand dollars and I won't
stop until I get it back, and pain like he's
worked very hard, diligently, well respected for forty years in racing,
followed by two ambulances getting up at three and four
in the morning as I have, and that money's not
easy to come by when you have to work for
it seven days a week like that.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
So it really irks me.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
And I hope that this guy's family and I've had
people contact me convertly.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
They're frightened of him. I'm not.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
You know, the truth hurts some people. So if he
doesn't want to admit it and fix the situation, maybe
the next generation will say, well, that happened at Grandma's house,
and obviously the woman's telling the truth, and it's a
women's rights issue. It's bigger than me. I'm just the
bunny bringing it forth. What's the point in changing the
statue of limitations laws for child sexual abuse to then
(30:21):
say it's too long ago. If I go to court
and my evidence is given and I've failed due to
the passage of time, at least you've had a hearing.
But to have to pay to not be heard, that's
a gracious courage of justice.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And as my life, the whole thing is, And you
can talk about advocating for other people, but it's still
your life, your situation. And you've in a situation where
the police investigations effectively ended your loss of civil cases,
put you well behind the appall financially. What is left
for you to do to get justice in your case?
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Well, Eugene backed me into the redress scheme and absolutely
busted my boiler. I got a public petition for that
and I've probably got nearly twelve thousand signatures, and now
I had under on a paper copy including eugenes, and
when submitted it was denied and an appeal was put
in about a year ago, and I haven't heard anything.
(31:15):
And the top amount of money you can get you've
got to have penetration, which I had through digital rape,
is only one hundred and fifty thousands, and nobody gets that.
If I got any compensation from that, it stops any
other legal avenue and it would only be my own
money back, so there'd be no compensation. It would just
(31:35):
purely be my own money back for speaking out. So
it's a smelly, smelly redress scheme. Why do they call
it a scheme? You know it's just insulting to victims.
But maybe, you know, if the family feel heat from me,
maybe someone's somewhere along the line will do the right
thing and give back my money and maybe even some compensation.
(31:59):
But at the end of the day, if I can
live an ease and function, it's only money. I would
like my money back. I shouldn't be able to pocket
for merely telling the truth. And if the opp aren't
going to bring a case on my behalf, and that
that is beyond reasonable doubt. Well, let me go civil,
(32:21):
which is in all probability. Nobody. I've been shunned in
lots of areas, but nobody's called me a liar.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yes, I don't think you're going away, Mariata. And I
really appreciate you telling your story, and I wish I
could give you more comfort or solution or some advice.
But you've done everything you possibly can, including the redress scheme.
I've heard of boys who were in Taranta and was
simply it he said, versus he said, and they got compensation.
But you're somehow tonight, even when you've got the perpetrator
(32:50):
signing your petition.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
What else do you want me to do?
Speaker 3 (32:54):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
I have no idea him when and Eugene is now deceased.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
Yes, I thought when he passed, I thought, well, he's
gone to meet his maker with a pretty clear conscience.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Though it was pretty good of him too.
Speaker 4 (33:07):
He had a young boy, and I'd found the photo
of him and his son, and I took that and
put it under his nose, and you could see he
sort of melted. And I said, you love that little boy,
don't you, and he said yes, And I showed him
picture of me with mum and I said, well, my
mum loved me too, but something awful happened. And as
a child, and the stress that she had with nursing
(33:28):
her husband and then him dying and then leaving her
with children and other stresses like having five boys, getting
cars and licenses and driving and what have you.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I watched her as a child.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
She was so upset about what had happened to me
and that she felt like she hadn't been able to
protect me, that she had a complete nervous breakdown, Adam,
and I was the witness to that. No child should
have to go through that either.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
The trauma goes on and on and on. Thank you
so much for sharing a story to that, Marita.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Oh, thank you for amplifying it on my behalf and
gutting me speaking and naming names and potentially opening myself
up to litigation while there's another way into court. But
he said he was innocent in the press. But he
hasn't countersued me, which that's good because that would have
been pretty stressful. But I cannot legally threaten him, but
(34:22):
I can threaten myself if it just gets too hard.
I think that they should do the right thing and
try and find a solution which allows me to get
on with the rest of my life. It's heartbreaking, and
I imagine if a me and dollar's compensation came into
the home as opposed to a deficit of one hundred thousand,
everything would have been hunky dory.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
That's Ruda Murphy as a cautionary tale historical sexual assault
that goes unpunished. And this really gives me a dilemma
because I've always advised women police are now listening, go
and bring your stories to them, seek justice. But Marita's
story gives me second thoughts, and you should watch her
(35:09):
documentary on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
You be the judge.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
It may well be that you need to consider other avenues.
Maybe it's counseling, but there are so many more people
out there, and I think the best thing we can
do is to have these discussions, and maybe there are
lawyers out there who can find a way around this
in the commercial sphere to make these perpetrators pay where
(35:33):
it hurts from their pocket. If you can't jail them,
at least take their money and compensate the victims.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
Like Marita Murphy, if.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You are a victim of this kind of offense or
any others, do call crime stoppers when they're under triple three,
triple zero. You don't at the cops, so they're not
helping you. Send me an email Adam Shanner writer at
gmail dot com, and I'll do my best to advise you.
I don't want to give you false hope, but I
think the first thing is to find your voice and
tell the story the way Marita has.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Thank you for listening today. This has been Adam shanned
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