Now actor Robert Hughes is locked up for child sex abuse, his brave niece tells Woman’s Day she can finally start to rebuild her shattered life.
Melinda O’Donnell says she ‘felt sick’ when she discovered former child star Sarah Monahan had come forward with allegations that she was abused on the set of Hey Dad!.
While no predator had been named at the time, Melinda said she had no doubt in her mind that Sarah was talking about her uncle Robert – her mum’s brother. For more than 10 years Mel herself had suffered at the hands of the man she describes as “evil”.
“I read every word in the Woman’s Day article and it was like Sarah had been a fly on the wall in my own life,” she says. “I knew that this was going to rip our family apart. I was pregnant with my second child and terrified but I also knew I had to come forward myself.”
Mel’s witness testimony, during a harrowing six-week trial, helped convict Hughes, 65, of 10 charges involving four victims, including two counts of sexual intercourse with a child.
Now, with Hughes awaiting sentencing on May 2, Mel is praying he gets the sentence she believes he deserves, life in prison, so that he can never hurt anyone again.
Read more from Melinda as she shares her story in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday April 14, 2014.
Related video: The cast of Hey Dad break their silence
