Woman sexually abused as a child for years by dad and his friend says they 'took turns' to rape her as the other watched
DERBYSHIRE: A woman who was raped by her father when she was just 10 years old revealed that it took her around 30 years to have the courage to admit what he had done to her.
Tracy Dables who is now 51 recalled that she was only 10 when her father Sidney Dables, 72, started raping her with his friend Dennis White, 74.
The offenses took place between 1977 and 1981 when their victim was aged between 10 and 14.
For two years, the pair would take turns to rape the child while other would watch.
After three decades, Tracy was able to come forward with what had happened and the two were jailed for 10 years.
Another victim also came forward putting Sidney behind bars for another six years in 2011.
Tracy has now waived her anonymity for the first time in the hope that her story will encourage and help other victims of abuse to come forward.
"My dad and 'Uncle' Dennis robbed me of my childhood—I won’t let them steal my future," she shared, reported Daily Mail.
Growing up, Tracy always got on well with her father and was the only girl out of six brothers.
She said her father treated all of them the same. However, when she turned 10, things changed.
He started to take her out on special trips to see 'Uncle Dennis'.
She recalled how she was very confused when she first went there and recognized the man standing at the door.
Uncle Dennis had been a close family friend but Tracy had never been to his house.
"He grinned and said 'hey Tank,' I was a stocky child and Tank was a nickname I’d been labeled with as a result," Tracy shared.
They went inside the house and Tracy saw that a huge projector had been set up. "Dad sat on the sofa facing the screen and patted the space next to him," she recalled. "He asked me to come and sit down."
They were joined by Uncle Dennis on the couch and then the abuse began.
"I kept my eyes fixed on the screen, not wanting to believe what was happening," she shared.
The abuse began happening twice a week after that. Tracy was raped by her father one day after which he "stood up and turned to face Uncle Dennis and said, 'your turn,' with a sick glint in his eye."
"I was so hurt and confused," explained Tracy. "Surely what Dad was doing was wrong. But he never offered an explanation, and I didn’t understand what was happening."
After two years of abuse, it suddenly stopped and Tracy moved on with her life, pushing the dark memories into the back of her mind.
She moved out at 18 and went on to have five children.
"I thought I’d buried the sickening abuse deep, but when a relationship turned abusive when I was 39, the trauma came flooding back," Tracy revealed.
"I realised then I’d been a victim of the worst abuse imaginable by the man I loved and trusted most as a child—my dad."
After a failed suicide attempt, Tracy confided in a nurse who encouraged her to go to the police.
"Telling the police what had happened was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do, but after 29 long years, I knew it was time," she shared.
Sidney was arrested and pleaded guilty but White put Tracy through a lengthy trial in 2006 and claimed to have barely known her.
However, he slipped up by calling her childhood nickname and was found guilty on four counts of rape following a trial at Derby Crown Court.
Sidney had already admitted to four charges of rape and four charges of aiding and abetting rape.
In 2011, another victim came forward.
"I was stunned as I heard how Dad had abused another girl, years after he’d hurt me," Tracy said.
"If only I’d jailed him sooner, I thought, feeling guilty. I thought I’d been the only one to suffer—I had no idea he’d claimed another child’s innocence."