Child sex abuse survivor whose life spiralled out of control after a priest abused her is to be DEPORTED to a country she hasn’t lived in for 30 years
- Tracey Glasgow will be forced back to New Zealand after 30 years in Australia
- The mother-of-three testified at the Royal Commission Into Child Sexual Abuse
- She was abused by a priest in a children’s home in Queensland aged 11 and 12
- She turned to drugs to cope and has spent much of her life in and out of prison
- Lawyers and child abuse advocates say sending her home is failing her again
A victim of abhorrent child sex crimes whose life spiralled out of control will be deported despite calling Australia home since she was nine.
Tracey Glasgow, now 39, will be forced to return to New Zealand after spending much of her adolescence and adult life in and out of detention centres and prisons.
The mother-of-three is addicted to drugs. She has been convicted of multiple traffic offences and struggled to adapt to life outside of prison, but lawyers and child abuse advocates say she should remain in Australia.
Lawyers argue Ms Glasgow has been failed yet again by the same authorities who failed her as an 11-year-old child when she was first placed in state care.
Compensation lawyer Julie Wyatt said her client suffers post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the trauma she experienced as a ward of the state.
Ms Glasgow said she was repeatedly assaulted by a priest at the home from the ages of 11 to 12 (stock image)
Ms Glasgow has made multiple attempts to take her life in the past.
Friends, family and lawyers fear she won’t survive if she is sent to New Zealand, so far away from her support network, The Courier-Mail reported.
The Brisbane mother testified at the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and detailed particularly horrifying conditions in Tufnell Home in Nundah, an Anglican-run children’s home which was identified by multiple victims.
In her statement, Ms Glasgow said she was repeatedly assaulted by a priest at the home from the ages of 11 to 12.
From there, she was sent to live with a foster family, who reported signs of abuse and mistreatment.
But the pleas for help were ignored, and Ms Glasgow developed a drug habit, landing herself in Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre multiple times.
The Commissions investigations have since uncovered dark secrets of the institution, and child sexual abuse and neglect is now believed to have been rampant during the years Ms Glasgow was incarcerated there.
‘There she was abused by two men who she has named and are known to some of my other clients,’ Ms Wyatt said.
Ms Glasgow has been in and out of prison ever since, her most recent stint began on July 5th, where she was transferred to the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre in preparation for deportation.
But advocates in her corner are pleading with the courts and the government to allow her to stay in the country and rehabilitate – not only for her sake but for that of her children.
Ms Glasgow is now being held in the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre (pictured) in preparation for deportation
She has also promised to turn her life around, and dedicate herself to being the best mother she can to her 10-year-old autistic son.
“I’d be staying at home with my son. I would take every opportunity I could to spend time with him. I just want to be a mum to him. I just want to be there. He’s such a good kid,” she said.
“I’m not just wrecking my life, I’m wrecking my children’s lives and I have a lot of guilt around that. I have a lot of guilt around the whole situation really. I know I was a kid and they tell me it’s not my fault, but it doesn’t stop.’
Ms Glasgow said it took a lot of her strength and courage to come forward.
She initially wanted to keep quiet, and feared what would happen if she shared her story, but found the strength to speak to a representative from the royal commission who visited the prison she was in in 2017.
A Department of Home Affairs spokesman said they would not comment on individual cases, but that a person could be deported if they were found to be ‘not of good character’.
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