Victim appealing compensation cut

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A County Armagh woman is appealing a decision to cut the compensation given to her for being sexually abused by her father in the 1980s by £10,000.

Last year a compensation panel awarded her £40,000 for the almost daily rapes inflicted on her by her father.

This was challenged by the secretary of state, who said since some of the abuse was before July 1988 it should be cut.

Before then the law said that anyone abused by someone within their own household should not receive any money.

Last week the Northern Ireland Office won the appeal and the woman's award was reduced to £30,000. She said that she was determined to appeal the decision.

The woman, who cannot be named, said that testifying about the abuse before the Criminal Injuries Compensation Panel had been "draining", and that when the award was overturned she had been "distraught".

We work with over 300 clients every week and from the research that we have carried out the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are family members or family friends Charlene Moore

"I was reading the paper on Wednesday when I came across the piece and I just said 'Oh my God - is that me?'

"I just read it and I burst into tears and convulsions," she said.

Charlene Moore from the charity for victims of abuse, Nexus, said that cutting the award was "unjust" and that it could affect many victims of abuse.

She said that the effects of the abuse are the same no matter when it happens and that the date of the abuse should be irrelevant.

"We work with over 300 clients every week and from the research that we have carried out the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are family members or family friends," she said.

She added that they had not previously been aware of the loophole and that it could affect a large number of victims of abuse.