$1000 gift for mother of sexually abused girl

By LOUISA CLEAVE

A struggling single mother who turned down $5000 in reparation from the man who sexually abused her daughter has been surprised by an anonymous cash gift.

The donor sent the Auckland woman $1000 via the Herald yesterday.

The mother said she had rejected the reparation offer from Gregory Forde Senior because she did not want to give him "a bargaining tool" that could lead to a lesser sentence.

Senior, a 40-year-old warehouse manager from Hatfields Beach, north of Auckland, admitted three counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, three of indecent assault and a representative charge of making an objectionable publication. The offending began when the girl was 8 and continued for two years.

Senior, who appeared in the High Court in Auckland this week, was jailed for three years and four months.

The donor asked the girl's mother to accept the cash in good faith and put it towards providing some relief to the family's financial pressures.

"The situation that the legal system has created, where a victim has to choose between their morals and money, only adds further unnecessary trauma to an already devastating event," the donor wrote.

"No amount of money could ever make amends for the lifetime damage he has intentionally caused the little girl."

The mother said she would like to put the money aside for her daughter, who was traumatised by the abuse and is undergoing counselling.