Sins of the Father
'I look back now and see that I never stood a chance. It's hard when you realise your whole childhood was taken away. I never got the chance to be a child.'
Shaneda Daly was only 6 years old when her father started grooming her. For more than ten years, he would go on to sexually abuse and rape his daughter at least once a day. In her house of doom, the emotional and physical toll on Shaneda was immense. Eventually, her ex-army and prison officer father admitted to his family what he had been doing, agreeing to leave home to get help. Returning after only a year, he was welcomed back, apparently a changed man. With no choice but to accept it, Shaneda lived alongside him again only for him to try and abuse her once more.
Shaneda managed to contact the police and leave home, finally reclaiming her power and standing up to the man who destroyed her childhood. Decades later, in 2011, she watched as her father was convicted on 227 counts of abuse - the average number that usually secures a conviction is less than 20. Shaneda now fights as a campaigner for other victims and is bravely telling her story fully for the first time: the story of a survivor.
Shaneda Daly is a campaigner and survivor of abuse. She lives in Ireland where she runs Survivors Side By Side and coordinates support group meetings nationwide, as well as campaigns for mandatory life sentences for those convicted of child abuse. This is her first book.
Linda Watson-Brown is a ghost writer and author. She has written more than 30 books and can be contacted through her website at www.lindawatsonbrown.co.uk.