A victim of a vile paedophile has recounted the horrors she experienced when she was raped in a ‘lock-up room’ as a child.
Martin James Cooper, 66, helped his wife Nancy run the Warminda Hostel in East Victoria Park, Perth between 1978 and 1983 when the abuse occurred, Perth Now reported.
Ann Peterson, a ward of the state at the time, was violently raped in a small dark storage space she called the ‘lock-up room’.
Martin James Cooper, 66 who was once a hostel parent who oversaw wards of the State and was convicted of abusing eight children who were in his care up to forty years ago (stock image)
‘If I had been naughty I would be thrown in… and there was no way of getting out,’ Ms Peterson said in court this week, the West Australian reported.
‘He just grabbed me by the hair… he threw me in… and he came into the room after me,’ she said. ‘And as the door closed, a mattress fell down and I was trying to crawl into the corner of the room, trying to get away from him.
‘I remember being wedged in the corner. Every time he is moving, my head is hitting the wall.’
Cooper was found guilty of 30 historical child sex offences on Wednesday for the abuse of four girls and four boys, who were aged between 11 and 16, but was acquitted of abusing a friend of one of the girls under his care.
Victims testified against Cooper and said the hostel had a culture of fear and intimidation, which included systematic acts of a violent and sexual nature.

Further testimony stated that Cooper would violently lead another girl around by her hair before locking her in a cupboard which was known as the ‘lock up’ where she was violently raped
The witness testimony detailed Cooper’s actions, from offering boys beers to indecently assault a girl in his car, after which he proceeded to rape the girl in front of the boys.
Further testimony stated Cooper would violently lead another girl around by her hair before locking her in a cupboard which was known as the ‘lock up’.
The female victim said she was violently raped inside the cupboard.

Judge Mark Herron described any decision of bail as ‘highly unusual’ because it was ‘inevitable’ that Cooper would be sentenced to jail time and remanded him in custody until his sentencing
Cooper would also abuse the children verbally with one victim saying he would call her ‘ugly’ and that she ‘looked like a pig’, the court heard.
Cooper’s lawyer David McKenzie originally requested his client be released on bail until sentencing, due to early onset dementia and a string of health issues. The court denied the request.
Judge Mark Herron described any decision of bail as ‘highly unusual’ because it was ‘inevitable’ that Cooper would be sentenced to jail time and remanded him in custody until his sentencing.