Blonde mature tale

Aaron Gilmore said it is important to tell people about sexual abuse.

AARON Gilmore was not even a teenager when he was sexually abused by a family friend who he regarded as a second mother. Ken Clearwater was 12 years old when he said he was sexually violated by a woman and asked to do things he could never comprehend and was left scarred, ashamed and broken.

Now a father-of-two children and the owner of a dancing school in Auckland, Mr Gilmore told news. Initially, Shaskey was charged with cruelty to a child but this was upgraded to sexual violation.

While the NZ Dancing with the Stars performer has learned to cope with what took place during his formative years, it left him feeling numb and like a shell. He said he felt he was unable to escape from the abuse. When alarm bells started to ring as the abuse became more sexual, he said she assured him it was their special secret.

He began to stay over and eventually moved in with Shaskey after his parents accepted her home was closer to his high school. What started as hugging and kissing on the cheek soon progressed to much more but as the months wore on he said he became more uncomfortable with the situation and wanted out.