Trigger warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault.
More than 30 years after she was violently raped while walking home as a teenager, a woman has broken her silence for the first time in the hope her story encourages other survivors to keep fighting for justice.
The woman, who was 16 at the time of the attack, spoke exclusively to 7NEWS about the decades of trauma she endured before advances in DNA technology finally led police to her attacker.
The brutal assault happened in the early hours of Sunday, April 28, 1991, after the teenager was approached by two men pretending to be police officers in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. The pair offered to walk her home before leading her into darkness along Docker Street, where she was punched, gagged, tied up and sexually assaulted.
“I was told that I would be raped and then I was raped by both these men,” she said. The woman recalled fearing she would not survive the attack. “One guy said to the other, ‘Do you want to knock her out?’” she said. “And I’m thinking, if he knocks me out, then I can’t control my breathing and I’m going to die.”
The attack would leave lifelong scars. For decades, she lived without answers or accountability, carrying the trauma in silence while trying to rebuild her life. “Standing there naked, covered in blood, my family members to see me like that,” she said, reflecting on the aftermath of the assault. Despite the years passed, she never completely gave up hope that one day somebody would be held responsible.
That moment finally came in 2021 when a detective contacted her to say the investigation was being reopened. “So I was pretty excited at the fact of having that opportunity to get justice,” she said. Police had recovered DNA from a cigarette butt left at the scene, which was matched to Michael James Demeanor. Advances in DNA technology finally helped solve the decades-old case leading to the arrest of Michael James Demeanor.
In 2023, Demeanor, then 53, was arrested in East Melbourne before later being found guilty. The survivor described the moment the verdict was delivered as overwhelming. “You sort of wanted to laugh and cry at the same time,” she said. “It’s like, oh wow, I’ve waited over 30 years for you to say that.” She said seeing her attacker behind bars made the long and painful legal journey worthwhile. “As hard as it was, to see that man behind bars was worth every little step of the way,” she said.
Now, after decades of silence, the woman wants her story to send a message to other survivors of sexual violence, particularly those who fear too much time has passed for justice to be possible. “No sentence feels long enough,” she said. “However, short sentences should not discourage people who have experienced sexual violence from coming forward.” She also hopes it sends a warning to offenders that police will never stop pursuing justice, no matter how many years have passed.
This case is one of a growing number across Australia being solved through advancements in forensic science and renewed investigations into historical sexual assaults.
