Oz woman raped 500 times in compensation battle

PERTH - The New South Wales Supreme Court has ordered a review of compensation for a woman who was raped about 500 times from the age of five to 16 when in foster care.

Justice Stephen Rothman has ruled that the Victims Compensation Tribunal made an “error of law” in its determination for the woman.

In 2008, the tribunal ruled she was eligible for compensation on the basis of one act of violence, even though she made seven compensation claims.

The judge noted that although 500 rapes were perpetrated, the woman did not claim 500 awards of compensation.

She had instead made seven claims, which referred to acts which occurred at various locations and when the woman was different ages, the first relating to being raped when five.

That was her age when she was placed in foster care in 1974 for 10 years, during which time she was sexually assaulted, on average, once a week, the judge said.

“The offender, who perpetrated these rapes, was the son-in-law of her foster parents and worked at the premises in which she was placed,” Perth Now quoted him as saying.

The offender was later convicted of three counts of sexual assault and acquitted of two other charges. (ANI)