15 plaintiff with outward kindness, made her feel special, bought her treats that her parents could not afford and bribed her with presents such as postage stamps and geological specimens for her collections. [23] The plaintiff begged not to be sent to the defendant’s home. For her pains her mother called her ‘’n regte klein blêddie stoutgat’1 and sent her anyway. The abuse continued. The plaintiff tried to relieve the trauma she experienced during the assaults by concentrating her thoughts on pleasant visions of the future or by working her mind into a dissociative state in which she viewed all that was happening to her from outside of herself. [24] What could not be concealed was the state of her underclothes. According to the plaintiff her mother complained that she already had enough trouble with Jaco and ‘nou is ek nog ‘n vuilgat ook’2. That was also sufficient to attract a beating on various occasions. The plaintiff began to wet her bed. She tried to explain to her mother ‘oom Maree doen dinge met my’3. Her mother reacted strongly: ‘Ek behoort my voor God te skaam want hy is ‘n goeie mens vir ons almal’4. Another hiding followed. On other occasions her mother would refer to her as ‘moedswillig’5 and ‘stout’6 and express the wish that she had never been born. The culture of the plaintiff’s family was such that sexual matters were not spoken of. In any event the plaintiff had great difficulty in expressing herself. She attempted to tell her father. His response was ‘Maree is a very 1 2 3 4 5 6 ‘naughty brat’ ‘now I am a dirty tramp as well’ ‘uncle Maree is doing things to me’ ‘I should feel ashamed before God because he is good to us all’ ‘wanton’ ‘naughty’