'Monster' dad sexually abused girl, 11, 'every night' as she was placed in care
A brave teenager has spoken out against her "monster" father who sexually abused her every night for the six months she was made to live with him.
Elizabeth Price was a happy and sociable little girl until the tender age of 11 when she was placed into the care of her biological dad Phillip Price.
Now 16 and with the support of her mum, Elizabeth is legally old enough to waive her automatic right to lifelong anonymity to speak out about the atrocities she faced.
"I didn’t tell anyone for four years because I was scared he would find me and do it all over again," Elizabeth said.
"I literally didn’t want to be here anymore because of what he had done to me."
Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probe
The survivor said she painfully kept the abuse to herself through fear of not being believed which had a further detrimental impact on her mental health.
Elizabeth aged between eight and nine (Elizabeth Price)
Elizabeth as a toddler with her dad (Elizabeth Price)But she is now determined to encourage other survivors of sexual abuse to report the crimes committed against them and hopes that sharing her story will help others feel less alone.
"I think it’s important to speak out about it because I hid it for so many years and it ate me up from the inside out," she told Wales Online.
"I just want people to know that they are not the only ones going through something like this because I struggled for years with my mental health for not telling anyone about it."
Price, now 61, started abusing his daughter after she was temporarily placed in his care at his home in Swansea, Wales, between May and November 2018.
Elizabeth recalled his constant drinking and said she believed social services were not aware of his relationship with alcohol.
"He would drink every day from the time he opened his eyes in the morning to the time he went to sleep," she said.
Elizabeth said she cannot go to school without having a panic attack and struggles to meet new people (WalesOnline/Rob Browne)"It was a two-bedroom house and... I was in the room with my dad.
"He would sexually assault me at night when he thought I was sleeping but I was awake every time because I was too scared to go to sleep.
"It happened every single night without fail while I was living with him for just under six months. He would take pictures of me as well after he had stripped me and when he thought I was asleep."
Russian model killed after calling Putin a 'psychopath' was strangled by her ex
At just 11 years old, Elizabeth said she was frozen with fear and physically unable to shout at him to stop because she was too scared.
She said she knew it wasn't normal but that she was worried he would take it even further if she said something to him.
"I wanted to cry but then he’d know I was awake," she said.
The teenager said she wants to address her dad directly as a means of gaining control over what he did to her (WalesOnline/Rob Browne)"I’d stay awake for weeks on end because I was so scared. The only time I would go to sleep was when he passed out drunk in the day."
Elizabeth, from Swansea, said she told her school multiple times about Price's excessive drinking in the hope her social worker would be notified and move her, but to no avail.
When the six months was over, she went back to live with her mum and kept her abuse as an agonising secret for the next four years.
After her 15th birthday, Elizabeth said she began to realise exactly what had happened to her as a child and how serious it was.
She told how she could not hold it in anymore, despite still feeling frightened that she would not be believed.
When she finally told a close friend and her mum Tracy last year, Elizabeth said they both believed her instantly.
"I was talking to my friend one day when we went out for a walk and I just started crying," she explained.
"She said I needed to tell somebody. I said 'I’m scared to tell mum, what if she doesn’t believe me?' My friend said ‘she will’ and I went home to tell my mum.
"We sat on the sofa and I told her everything. It felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.
"It felt like a relief because the police believed me and I knew he wouldn’t get away with what he had done."
Tracy said: "When I found out about it and she told me, I felt absolutely sick to the stomach. That’s my daughter.
"You don’t do stuff like that to any kid, let alone your own kid.
"I think the main worry for many survivors is that they are not going to be believed, but I believed her straight away.
"Please don’t be afraid. Come forward and tell someone you trust."
Within an hour, Tracy said she called the police and Price was arrested a few weeks later following an investigation.
Elizabeth said she was able to aid officers with their investigation by telling them the location of the camera he used to take pictures of her years earlier.
She said: "There was a camera that he used to take pictures of me. I knew where it was because I was awake.
"When the police interviewed me, I was able to tell them exactly where it was and exactly what camera it was. I wonder what he did with the pictures of me or if he sent them to anyone. The thought makes me feel sick."
Before her ordeal, Elizabeth said she was sociable as a little girl but now struggles to leave her bedroom on some days.
She also said she struggles with feelings of anger and self-loathing as a direct consequence of Price's abuse, and doesn't like trying new food because he would "scream" at her when she didn't like something he made.
Her schooling has also been majorly affected because she is reminded of that traumatic time in her life whenever she walks through the gates.
"I struggle to talk to new people and to trust males," she said. "Since it happened, I have also struggled to try new food because if he made food with an ingredient that I didn’t like, he would throw it at a wall and scream at me.
"I used to be scared he was going to beat me but he didn’t. He would just scream and scream at me until I was bawling my eyes out and being sick.
"I can’t go to school without having a panic attack. Every time I walk through the doors I feel like I’m going to have a mental breakdown."
Elizabeth hasn't seen Price since he abused her, but she has made the incredibly brave decision to face him in court and read out her victim impact statement.
These statements are often read out by the victim's barrister, but Elizabeth said she wants to address Price directly as a means of gaining control over what he did to her, as well as telling him first-hand how much he has harmed her.
She said: "I said from day one I wanted to read out a victim impact statement in court because he needs to realise how much he has impacted my life. He needs to know what he has done and what he has put me through because he has completely destroyed the person I was before. I was such a lovely and happy girl before.
"Having the opportunity to say this to him makes me feel a little bit more powerful, because I have control over what I am saying to him. He had no right to even think about what he did to me. I am probably never going to get an explanation as to why he did it, which is the hardest part."
She told the court: "For four years I kept a secret no child should ever have to keep. For four years my mother watched helplessly as I went down hill and for four years I was horrible to my siblings for trying to be nice to me for things you did to me while I was just 11. As a father you had the job of protecting me from monsters, but you turned out to be the very monster I needed protecting from.
"As a child I needed your love, not to be sexually assaulted by you. I can no longer look at my body without hating what I see. I can't look with my eyes without thinking of you. I hate that I now bath several times a day because I still feel your touch, but the scrubbing never stops. I hate myself because of what you did. I hate everything from my head to my toes.
"Damn it, you made me not want to be here any more and if it wasn't for my mum, I wouldn't be here today because I decided I wasn't worthy of love, trust or compassion - I was wrong. I don't know why you abused me and no apology will ever be enough. You are nothing but a monster and I will never forgive you. You no longer get to be my dad. I am slowly getting to rebuild my life and you will never be a part of it again and you will never hear me call you my dad again."
Price, of Swansea, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday.
Prosecutor Harry Baker told the court how prior to his arrest last August for abusing his daughter, he was already on a sexual harm prevention order which was issued to him in 2019 after it was discovered he was in possession of child pornography.
When police found the additional pornographic images during the 2022 investigation, he was found to be in breach of his order.
Helen Randall, defending, told the court how Price is "remorseful for his actions" and pleaded guilty to prevent putting his daughter "through the additional upset of giving evidence".
She said his actions did not escalate beyond the sexual abuse he subjected her to during the six months he was supposed to care for her.
However, Judge Paul Hobson disregarded much of the mitigation, describing Price's actions as a "gross breach of trust" when "you should have been protecting her".
Addressing the court, he said: "At an important part of her childhood she had to live with what you did to her on her own. Your actions scarred her childhood. She showed great bravery at court today which is in stark contrast to [your abuse]. Your actions were entirely selfish."
As she read the statement and looked directly at Price, he looked down with his head in his hands.
Price was sentenced to a custodial period of five years with an extended licence period of eight years.
He was also handed a 12-month concurrent sentence as well as a two-year concurrent sentence for breaching his prevention of sexual harm order and two concurrent sentences for the possession of child pornography of six months and two months.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
