NEW ZEALAND
One News
[with video]
Ryan Boswell
ONE News Reporter
Ann-Marie Shelley has finally conquered her demons – after years of abuse at the hands of Catholic priest Peter Joseph Hercock.
As her attacker goes to jail, the 60-year-old asked the court to lift her name suppression and sat down with ONE News for an interview.
Ms Shelley first met Hercock at Lower Hutt’s Sacred Heart College in 1970.
She was just 14 – and he was the school’s chaplain and counsellor.
“I came to completely trust him and talk to him about everything that was going on in my life,” Ms Shelley told ONE News.
“It became quite easy to not notice the things that were kind-of going on in the periphery.”
Within a year he’d begun indecently assaulting her, at first rubbing her back and thighs.
Three years later, Ms Shelley was training to be a nurse when she fell pregnant and was considering adoption.
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