Daughter hid father's rape attack for 33 years before reporting

Julieanne Boyle's father William Boyle is now serving a seven-and-a-half-year jail term

There has been a rise in the number of non-recent sex abuse incidents being reported to police in Northern Ireland.

In 2022/23 there were 1,245 reported offences, a rise of 17% from 2018/19.

Julieanne Boyle was raped by her father on her 18th birthday. She is now 51. William Boyle, who is 88, is now serving a prison term.

She decided to come forward more than 30 years after the assault as she believed attitudes to such crimes have changed.

"There was a government advertisement on the TV asking survivors if they knew where their perpetrators were, to let them know," she said.

"If they didn't want to report the crime, at least it was on a data base. I thought that was absolutely fabulous.

"I never spoke about him. For 33 years, I hid the shame and the blame and I carried that.

"But the day and hour I walked in to the sexual crime unit was the day and hour I was believed."

Earlier this year, her father was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail.

'I was opening pain'

Julianne said she believed that the way such crimes are handled has now changed, and that was also part of her decision to come forward.

When she was much younger, she had experience of the criminal justice system as a victim of a paedophile.

"Things have changed immensely here. Things are better for the victims and survivors," she told BBC News NI.

Julieanne became pregnant as a result of the attack by her father. She later lost the baby.

She says opening up and talking about what happened three decades ago has not been easy.

"To even speak about it after 33 years, I knew I was opening pain. All I wanted was to put my child to rest and to have a bit of a life. I deserve that; he took that away from me."

'There was always shame'

In recent years there has been a lot of legislative change around sexual and domestic violence in Northern Ireland.

The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (NI) 2021 and the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Act (NI) 2022 both introduced new crimes to the statute books.

Crimes such as non-fatal strangulation, upskirting and coercive control became written into law.

"The legislation is definitely changing the landscape for us as a service," PSNI Det Supt Lindsay Fisher said.

"But the fact that we're having these conversations, we're understanding the behaviours and why victims felt they couldn't come forward.

PSNI detective superintendent Lindsay Fisher

"If we think about coercive control, interfamilial abuse - there was always shame and that seeking of silence."

Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK without a specific Ending Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.

Speaking about the role of the new Northern Ireland Executive, Det Supt Fisher said that "the strategy certainly should be a top priority".

"We need to continue that message throughout Northern Ireland because we have come so far," she added.

'Trying to recover'

Julieanne says she is starting to try to leave her trauma behind.

"I am trying to recover," she said.

"I don't know how to live any other life. It was always there.

"For the first time in 51 years, I'm learning to try and have a bit of a life.

"I think I deserve it."

"You'll never heal from your abuse," she added. "But you learn to move on with your life.

"I have a son, a family and that keeps me going."

If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this story you can find help and support at BBC Action Line.