Source : Perth Now news
The former partner of disgraced author Craig Silvey says she suffered a “great betrayal” when she learnt about his crimes.
Craig Silvey was jailed for seven months on Monday, after he plead guilty in the Western Australia District Court to possessing and distributing child exploitation material.
Police raided his Fremantle home in January, where he lived with his partner and children, and found 12 category one child abuse images and videos on his devices.
His ex Clare Testoni issued “A statement” on the publishing platform Substack, saying the father of her children revealed himself not to be the man she thought he was.
“While I was aware he was stressed and his mental health was suffering I had no idea what was truly going on,” she said.
“I had seven-month-old twins, a three-year- old, I had been drowning in motherhood and in his growing absence.”
Ms Testoni said it had been the hardest year of her life and that his betrayal came at a time when she was financially and socially vulnerable.
“It is hard to rebuild friendships after escaping a toxic relationship when you are the sole parent to three under four,” she said.
“It is harder still while being followed by the Daily Mail on your way to Centerlink.”
Ms Testoni separated from Silvey as soon as she learnt about his crimes and said that reconciling how he will be in their children’s lives was an ongoing project.
“I am not my previous relationship, and my girls are not their father. I ask that you take us on our own terms. We are secondary victims in this. We have suffered greatly,” she said.
The mother-of-three is also a writer, claiming Silvey stopped reading her work and discouraged her from completing her PhD when she had their first child.
“(He) generally prioritised his own more lucrative career over mine. This is an old story badly re-told again and again,” she said.
“I hope to tell a new story going forward. I hope. I hope.”
Silvey pens 9000-word apology on Substack
Her statement was published days after Silvey wrote a 9000-word essay on his own Substack apologising for his crimes.
Silvey said he experienced violence and sexual abuse as a child and suffered a mental health crisis late last year, which led to a breakdown.
He claimed in his apology that his father was controlling and had not read a single word the award-winning author had published.
“I hoped to earn his respect, to win his acknowledgment and love. He did not read a single word of my books. And then, in painful and disgraceful circumstances, he left,” he claimed.
Silvey acknowledged in his apology that his conduct had blindsided friends and family.
“They are undeserving casualties, and I will carry this regret for the rest of my life,” he said.
