Today, following a lengthy investigation conducted by news.com.au and the Herald Sun, Australia has learned the horrific story of Kaye Maher – a 60 year old woman who has been fighting for justice since age 14.
Her case powerfully highlights both the failings of the criminal justice system, and the need for urgent reform.
It is appalling that at age 14, Kaye had already been sexually abused by an extended relative in Bendigo. It is appalling that, believing she was pregnant as a result of the abuse, she visited Dr David Frederick Miller but instead of supporting her in her vulnerable state, Miller told Kaye he would “teach her how to have sex without getting pregnant”- proceeding then to sexually assault her.
And it is appalling, that that is only the start of this horror tale.
Because Kaye Maher was not Miller’s only or even first victim. Today, we learn that as of this month, Miller has been found to have committed sexual offences against at least 11 patients and community members, some as young as 5 or 10.
At least two were teen girls who had come to him as patients, seeking help in the aftermath of sexual abuse.
Read about Kaye Maher’s fight for justice here
And yet after Kaye first reported to police in 1992, she was dismissed, and told that “it was not in the public interest” to pursue the matter, despite Miller’s existing conviction for sexually abusing another vulnerable 13-year-old patient.
Even more disturbing, when Kaye’s case was eventually reopened after yet more victims came forward, the judge aborted the trial in 1997, after Miller claimed he could not be expected to mount a defence, given he had lost or destroyed all his patient records.
But what happened next simply beggars belief.
When Kaye contacted the Bendigo clinic which had housed the records in question, to determine when and how they were destroyed, she discovered that not only did they still exist (and she obtained a copy the next business day), but there was no record of anyone – including police, prosecution or court staff – having ever made any inquiry or application as to their existence.
It was left to Kaye to visit the clinic herself, to collect a signed copy of her own medical records, written by the same hand that had abused her body, years earlier.
It was left to Kaye to present that evidence to police, before lodging a complaint with the Ethical Standard Department, and later the ombudsman.
And earlier this year, it was left to Kaye to attend court – supported by the #LetHerSpeak campaign – to oppose Miller’s application for a 10 year suppression order which would have silenced Kaye until she was 70 and he, if still alive, was in his 90s.
Indeed even though Miller eventually pleaded guilty to the abuse of Kaye – a full 30 years after he had committed it – he was given just six months jail, for that abuse and the sexual abuse of two other teen patients who he also molested in his office.
Not that the DPP were at all troubled by that short sentence. In fact they did not contest when his defence recommended a fully suspended sentence, for what in today’s terms would amount to three counts of rape.
And today we learn the final insult.
This year across three special hearings, three juries found that Miller had committed another 13 offences against seven more victims.
But due to his declining mental and physical capacity he cannot and will not be sentenced to a jail term. Instead he will live out his days in freedom in a NSW aged care facility funded by Kaye, and other taxpayers.
When Kaye first contacted me with her story some years ago, we were unable to report due to the upcoming trials.
Today, with all non-publication orders finally resolved, Kaye is able to tell her story on her terms: a full 46 years later.
Indeed, in almost two decades of reporting sexual abuse, I have not encountered such a miscarriage of justice.
Nor have I ever met a survivor with so many documents. Folders within folders, every hearing, complaint, letter of response recorded – a treasure trove for an investigative journalist – but also a sad cache of the decades of misery, trauma and protracted engagement with a system which has failed Kaye at every turn.
What saddened me most though, was the isolation and loneliness captured within those documents.
Because not only has Kaye Maher had to drive this process she’s often had to drive it alone.
And while her case is on the extreme end of systemic failure, the themes it captures resonate across many of the survivor stories I hear concerning the criminal justice system: long delays; baffling decisions; radio silence; a revolving cast of legal actors; constant uncertainty and isolation throughout.
And unsurprisingly, victims are often left feeling the same way as they did during the abuse itself: powerless, voiceless, helpless and confused.
And while Kaye Maher is a fighter and a survivor, the simple truth is she is also hurting, because we as a community failed Kaye Maher.
If we are to honour her story and her courage in speaking out now, we need to reform the systems which harmed her – and Miller’s other victims – and with that, we need to ensure that survivors are supported throughout the entirety of the criminal complaint process before, during and after.
No, Kaye should not have had to gather her own evidence and it’s offensive that she did.
Nor should she have been expected to learn how to navigate a system and hold it to account, when that system was supposed to be holding her offender to account.
But now that she has, surely it is on us all, to ensure that a case like Kaye Maher’s is never repeated again?
Surely, it is on us to make those changes and guarantee they are permanent.
That is the justice Kaye Maher deserves now.
Click here to donate to the #LetHerSpeak campaign, which has supported Kaye Maher.
Nina Funnell is Walkley Award winning journalist, and the creator of the #LetHerSpeak campaign.
Know more? ninafunnell@gmail.com