THE Sunday that changed Michelle Milthorpe’s was just like any other.
It was October 2013 when her then five-year-old daughter crawled into Michelle’s bed and uttered a devastating confession.
Rose and Pippa had both been abused by a familt friend as children. Pictured, l-r, Maggie, Michelle, Brent, Rose and Pippa[/caption]
Little Rose Milthorpe gently woke her mum up and said there was something important she needed to tell her.
She had no idea that what she said next would see their world come crashing down.
The little girl explained what a family friend Leon* had done to her and explained that she “didn’t like it”, News.com.au reports.
Now, speaking to Gary Jubelin on True Crime Australia’s I Catch Killers podcast, Michelle explained how her whole body went into shock after being told the unthinkable news.
“I went into professional mode and asked her if there was anything else he does that she didn’t like,” Michelle, a teacher from Albury, New South Wales, explained on the podcast.
“She went on to tell me a few other things that were going on that we had no knowledge of.
“I went downstairs to talk to my husband. I couldn’t even speak, it was like someone had just died.
“I actually vomited. I couldn’t speak.”
Rose later explained that her older sister, Pippa, who was eight at the time, told Rose that Leon “shouldn’t do that”.
It was when she spoke to Pippa the following morning that the full extent of Leon’s abuse was revealed.
“Her entire demeanour changed. I hadn’t used names or any information, just that. She withdrew into herself and got her pillow and put it over her face.
“I got the pillow and she had a tear rolling down.”
The mum said that Pippa wasn’t comfortable talking about her feelings, but asked her to write down if something was happening that she did not like.
Her daughter wrote ‘yes’ and acknowledged that something was happening to her too.
I couldn’t even speak, it was like someone had just died
Michelle Millthorpe
Michelle also has a conversation with her older daughter, Maggie, who was 10 at the time, who said she had no knowledge of what she was talking about.
Leon* and his wife had been good family friends for a number of years, with Michelle admitting they were like ‘grandparents’ to the girls.
Upon confronting him, he denied all allegations against him, blasting them as “ridiculous”.
The first police interview took place the following month in November 2013 and Leon was charged later that month.
It wasn’t until two and a half years later that the family finally got their day in court.
How to report a sexual assault
- Contact a doctor or practice nurse at your GP surgery.
- Contact a voluntary organisation, such as Rape Crisis, Women’s Aid, Victim Support, The Survivors Trust or Male Survivors Partnership.
- Call the 24-hour freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge, on 0808 2000 247.
- Speak to the rape and sexual abuse support line run by Rape Crisis England and Wales – you can call the helpline on 0808 500 2222 or use the online chat (both are free and are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year).
After a distressing, dragged out court case, Leon was eventually convicted of six counts of aggravated indecent assault against Pippa Milthorpe.
He was acquitted of four charges of aggravated indecent assault in relation to Rose Milthorpe.
Five months later, in September that year, Leon was sentenced to three years nine months jail but released after two years and six months and returned back to the same town the girls continue to live in.
In September 2022, Rose became the youngest ever sexual abuse survivor in Australia to win court approval to tell her story under her own name.
Two months later, she and Pippa both waived their right to anonymity, speaking out exclusively as they fronted news.com.au’s Justice Shouldn’t Hurt campaign, demanding the expansion of a program designed to make court less traumatic for children involved in sexual abuse matters.
*Names have been changed for legal reasons.
This story originally appeared on News.com.au and has been republished here with permission.
