Abuse victim exposes dad's rape shame

A victim of sexual abuse has taken the unusual step of asking for the identity of her abuser - her father - to be revealed.
After suffering years of sexual assaults and being raped by her father from the age of 9 to 14, Monique Hoffman left home and began to live on the streets, hitchhiking across the North Island.
Her father, Colin John Hoffman, 48, was sentenced in Napier District Court to 10 years in prison last week following a trial in November where he was found guilty of rape and two counts of sexual connection.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of indecent assault.
Hoffman had name suppression throughout the court proceedings but it was dropped following his sentencing. Name suppression is usually given in such cases to protect the identity of the victim of the crime.
During the trial Monique, 25, said she was afraid her father would be granted name suppression, protecting his reputation from being tarnished.
"I'm really, really happy the name suppression is gone because it's not my dirty laundry. I don't need to be embarrassed by this. He did it."
Of her life now she said: "It's made me really hard, which I don't like. It's screwed my whole life up, if it hadn't happened my life would have ended up a lot different.
"I'm single, I don't trust anybody; it's a really lonely life."
Monique initially let CYF know about her abuse as a 13-year-old, only to retract her statements after they left her in her father's care following an initial consultation.
Years later, at age 23 when living on her own in Taranaki the effects of the abuse began to catch up with her.
"I got really, really sick, I had pneumonia and severe depression. I was living life on my own again like when I was a child. It brought back all those childhood memories.
"It got to the point where I was going to get in the car and drive into a power pole. I was about to phone a friend to look after my kid but instead I phoned the police."
During sentencing Hoffman showed no remorse and proceedings were initially disrupted when a woman in the court, who had no relation to the case, began abusing him for his "sick" offending.
"I'd like to thank that woman," Monique said.
"A complete stranger had my back. They were yelling all the things that I wanted to say myself. It was amazing."
Monique and her 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son plan to start afresh in a new town, where she plans to begin studying to become a social worker in February.