00:02Former Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, once again speaking out against the man who
00:07sexually abused her when she was a child.
00:09This has been incredibly difficult for my family and I, for my loved ones.
00:16This is over half my lifetime that this has taken up.
00:20And like many survivors of child sexual abuse, the impacts of that trauma have been profound
00:29and long lasting.
00:30Nicholas Bester was jailed in 2015 for abusing Ms Tame when he was her teacher.
00:35Her campaign to overturn a law that banned sexual abuse survivors from speaking publicly
00:40about their cases led to her being named Australian of the Year in 2021.
00:45Bester has pleaded not guilty to three charges of using a carriage service to menace, harass
00:51or cause offence over three 2022 Twitter posts.
00:55He appeared in court today via video link.
00:57The Herbart Magistrates Court heard they referenced a countdown to a comeuppance, which coincided
01:03with the launch of Ms Tame's memoir and that Bester shared Ms Tame's email address, which
01:09was connected to the Facebook accounts they used to communicate when he was abusing her.
01:13Ms Tame told the court she felt terrified, saying,
01:16This is a man who has psychologically tortured and raped me.
01:20I do not need to imagine his capacity to cause harm.
01:24And I feared for any number of possibilities, public humiliation or indeed death.
01:30Ms Tame said she feared Bester could share messages they exchanged during the abuse.
01:34The court also heard police found a folder on Bester's computer titled RAC, which is Afrikaans
01:41for revenge, containing the communications, as well as media reports and photos of Ms Tame.
01:46The matter will return to court in December.
01:49The matter will return to court in December.
