A WOMAN WHO has waived her anonymity to name a Defence Forces member who sexually assaulted her as a child has said she hopes her decision will encourage other victims to come forward.

Ella Hewson (18) was aged 14 when she was sexually assaulted in September 2022 while at a sleepover in a friend’s house.

Patrick Byrne (42), of Grange Rath, Drogheda was jailed after being found guilty of two counts of sexual assault at Trim Circuit Court last month.

Ella has the right to anonymity as a sexual assault survivor, but waived this once she turned 18.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Liveline, Ella said she hopes her decision will help make it so that sexual assaults aren’t “normalised”.

Ella said it was a “completely normal day” but that when she went back to her friend’s house for a sleepover, she was sexually assaulted her by her friend’s stepfather.

Elle said that she and her friend decided to go to bed just after midnight.

She said she woke up throughout the night to her Byrne sexually assaulting her.

“I turned around and he had gone running out of the room,” said Ella.

“I obviously was terrified, I completely froze up, and I just stayed awake for the rest night.”

Ella said she “didn’t know what to do” and that Byrne returned for a second time.

“I pretended to be asleep, so he tried to put his hands down my bottoms again, and then I moved, and he ran out of the room again.”

Ella said he then returned for a third time, and was “kissing my temples and rubbing my hair”.

Afterwards, Ella said she “couldn’t face telling anyone about it”.

“My friend and the wife knew about what happened,” said Ella, “but I just couldn’t face telling anyone else about what happened.

“I was very scared and only wanted to be by myself.”

Ella said that for “ages” she thought there was “no point in telling anyone as it would just cause drama that I didn’t want in my life”.

“I just thought that by keeping it into myself, I’d be completely fine, and it wouldn’t hurt anyone else around me as well.”

However, Ella said she went on to tell her older sister, who was 16 at the time, about the sexual assault.

“I just need to tell someone close to me. I didn’t know it was going to go into something as big as this, but I just needed to get it out of my system.”

Ella said her sister told her that “we have to speak up and talk about this”.

She said it was “really hard” when her parents found out about the sexual assault.

“To see their reactions; my dad was pacing around the room and my mam was bawling her eyes out, they just couldn’t cope with what happened.”

Meanwhile, Ella said that some people accused her of lying about the sexual assault

“People were accusing me and screaming at me in public, there was a lot of hate coming from it.”

Ella’s mother Dawn joined her on Liveline.

Dawn remarked that “people don’t have the courage and the strength to do what Ella has done, and we’re so proud of her for what she has been able to do”.

“But it’s not easy,” added Dawn. “Even if it’s 50 odd years ago, or if it’s in 2022, it’s still not easy to come and speak out.”

Ella said that this response summed up why she decided to waive her anonymity.

“A lot of people try to hide it, for their own benefit or for other people’s benefit, and at the end of the day, it is the hardest thing to go through,” said Ella.

“But speaking up and making more people aware, it almost like it’s normalised now for it to happen, but I think that by everyone trying to speak up about it and finally putting their word out there, hopefully it won’t be as normalised and people will be able to stop it.”

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said that what Ella “described on air will be familiar to many survivors”.

“She withdrew from the people around her,” said a spokesperson.

“She was openly accused of lying by friends. Through the process, she often felt as though she were the one on trial.

“Ella was a child. The only person who had a case to answer was the man who assaulted her.

“Ella spent four years of her adolescence carrying this. She has spoken publicly so that others might be spared it.”

If this article has impacted you, the National Rape Crisis Helpline is open 24 hours a day for people who have been affected by sexual violence. Tel: 1800 77 88 88