"I ended up at a party with him and that's where he sexually assaulted me."
Edmonds told the court when he first began to assault her she tried to fight back.
"I tried to save myself and get away," she said. "He kept coming back, violating me again and again."
Edmonds said her friend also tried to help but she was unable to escape.
"I was just terrified of him. It was the most horrible thing," she recalled to the Herald.
"I didn't go to the police because I was 14, and scared, and didn't really understand what had happened.
"So I went on with my life."
A few years later Edmonds became friends with a girl from another school. To her horror, that young woman revealed she had also been raped by the same man. Then, another friend said she was raped by him too.
"There were five other girls that came forward, a few from [my school] and others from different schools," Edmonds said.
Other students at the same school who were victims of the man included Rosie Veldkamp and Ellie Oram, who also waived their statutory suppression.
The name of the school Edmonds and the rapist attended, however, has been permanently suppressed by the court.
After Edmonds contacted police her school was also notified.
"They went to the school to interview people and he was actually allowed to continue going to school and being around his victims completely unsupervised and unobstructed by any school intervention, which was just horrible.
"We had to walk around with our rapist for six months at [school] and they did nothing about it."
In an affidavit, partially read to the court in support of the school's application for suppression, the principal said that upon learning of the allegations the school supported the survivors, co-operated fully with police and helped identify all potential victims.
However, Judge Claire Ryan noted the victims and their families didn't agree the school did all it could.
Questions to the principal from the Herald about what action was taken and what protocols are now in place for sexual violence victims were not responded to before publication.
"Things like this can't be brushed under the rug," Edmonds said. "It's so important, especially for young girls who have gone through something like what I went through. It's so important to get help.
"If this could make any difference with the way that schools handle this sort of thing, it could make a massive difference to young girls all over the country who want to come forward but are too scared."
The offender eventually stopped attending the school in Year 13 after he was charged by police and his bail conditions prevented him from being onsite.
However, the court heard, he has since enrolled in the University of Auckland and is in a class leadership position.
Edmonds told the Herald the man has also been seen drinking at clubs in Auckland after the attacks.
"Someone who saw him there and posted on his Instagram story for people to watch out," she said.
"I think that he's so dangerous and he's destroyed so many lives already, including my own."
Edmonds, who now studies at the University of Otago, said she suffers from PTSD and the trauma from the man's heinous crimes.
"Because I was so young, it completely derailed my life. I stopped going to school, I started self-harming. It seriously impacted my mental health. I was terrified. I didn't want to sleep in my own room anymore because I was so scared he was going to break in.
"I actually slept on the floor of my parent's room for months because I was so terrified of him."
Edmonds' mum, Tracey, an Auckland lawyer, told the court she had been swamped with rage and sadness since she learned her daughter had been repeatedly violated.
"She was staggeringly drunk and you were sober," she told the offender, who sat quietly throughout the sentencing with his parents seated behind him.
"I'm a lawyer, I protect women from coercive control for a living but I couldn't protect my daughter from you."
The offender, Edmonds' mum suggested, presented as a skilled communicator and masterful manipulator. "You've changed the trajectory of many young women's lives."
Edmonds told the court the face of the "calculating predator" was forever burned into her mind.
"I still frequently have nightmares about him," she said. "I have found it very difficult to move away ... He has left me with years of my life lost."
However, Edmonds said, going to police and helping bring the offender to justice had been healing for her.
Sexual harm - Where to get help
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email support@safetotalk.nz
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.
Mental health - Where to get help
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 (available 24/7)
• Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
• Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (12pm to 11pm)
• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
• Anxiety helpline: 0800 269 4389 (0800 ANXIETY) (available 24/7)
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
