'NOBODY LISTENED'

These sisters say they were sexually abused 50 years ago by family friends - and they want their day in court

- MARELIZE GRBICH

FOR years silence grew like a cancer between the two sisters.

They'd both suffered as children yet instead of leaning on each other they turned away, burying the pain of the past under a shroud of guilt and shame.

"We had so much anger in us we directed it at each other instead of where it was supposed to go," Claudine Shiels says.

But the 65-year-old and her sister, Lisa van der Merwe (61), are done keeping quiet now and not just so they can seek justice for themselves.

They've gone public with their story to try to help other survivors of sexual abuse and show them that it's never too late to take action.

The sisters say they were sexually abused by family friends from 1974 to 1976 and their story might never have been told if an amendment to the law hadn't been made in 2018.

That amendment lifted the 20-year time limit on when someone could be prosecuted for abuse, allowing people to lay charges no matter how much time had passed.

The case the sisters brought is one of the oldest sexual-abuse cases to be brought in the country and it hasn't been without drama for Claudine and Lisa.

The two men they have accused of abusing them sought to have the charge sheet changed by arguing the references to the new law on Sexual Offences and Related Matters shouldn't apply to them as the act didn't exist when the offences were committed. They took the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal, which dismissed their application and ruled in favour of the sisters.

The men's defence team are now planning to appeal the ruling in the Constitutional Court and only once this has been concluded will the sisters know whether their case can go to trial with the charge sheet as it is now.

They're hopeful, Claudine says. "If we're successful we'll leave a legacy. No victim of sexual abuse will have to fight this battle again. That's what keeps us going"