Woman confronts rapist uncle

Jill* was 10 years old when her mother carried her to St Elizabeth to live with her grandmother. Her mother had received an opportunity to migrate to Canada and did not hesitate to jump at the opportunity. However, little did she know that her daughter would not be safe.

Not long after moving into the two-bedroom house, which was occupied by her grandmother, an uncle, his wife and their son, Jill's life turned upside down She claimed that her uncle, who she recently confronted, barged in on her while she was showering in an outside bathroom, held a machete to her neck and raped her.

"He told me that if I made noise he would chop mi up and bury mi in the bush. I froze and him put the machete under his arm and used his next hand to undo his pants front and pulled his penis and started jamming inside of me," Jill said.

Now in her 50s, Jill, who recounted the terrifying experience, said those assaults continued for a very long time.

"How on earth did his wife not know that her man was leaving his bed at nights to come and rape me? I am saying this raw, because I don't want people to believe it was sexual molestation and was just 'feeling me up' - he was f****ng me. A 32-year-old man was raping my 10-year-old vagina on a daily basis," she said.

Jill said the abuse continued until she developed what she called a 'trauma bond'.

"I started to see him as my little friend. He would send me to the shop to buy things and tell mi to keep the change. There were times when he would come and take me off the bed and carry me almost anywhere in the house and [have sex] with mi. All this time my grandmother was in the room," she said.

Things took a drastic turn when Jill experienced her first period. Not understanding the changes in her body , she told her grandmother that she was urinating blood.

"Mi uncle and his wife sat on the verandah, and mi little sister and granny was there. When mi tell mi granny she pointed to my crotch and say I should not let nuh bwoy touch mi down there because, if that happen, mi a guh breed, and she a guh beat mi. Mi say, 'Uncle touch mi there every day and mi never breed,'" she said.

Nothing could have prepared her for what happened next.

"She (the grandmother) took off her slippers and slap mi across mi face. She jump out her chair and drape mi in mi dress collar and she beat mi until I was bloody. No one came to my rescue," Jill said.

Accused of lying, Jill said she was hauled to Kingston and left her with her paternal grandmother, who treated her well; she lived there until she was 15. Jill said she and her siblings eventually relocated to Canada to live with their mother.

Jill said she confronted her abuser and posted the video of his confession on social media. She hopes that by sharing her story, she can prevent other children from suffering a similar fate. In the same breath, she wants parents to pay attention to their children and protect them from abusers.

*name changed to protect identity