Officers in Tayside are investigating over 400 sex crimes every year but charities in the area have claimed this figure is simply “the tip of the iceberg,” with hundreds more indecent offences going unreported.
Information released to The Courier has also revealed that several children as young as two were among the victims in 617 cases involving under 16s over the past three years. Officials have admitted that infants even younger than this could have been targeted as in some cases it is impossible to gauge exactly when ongoing abuse may have started.
The force was made aware of 13 instances of a child being groomed for the purpose of sexual offences and also had several reports of sexual intercourse with girls aged 12 and younger. This was in addition to a further 702 crimes recorded over the period, included in which were rape, sodomy, brothel keeping and immoral trafficking.
Laurie Matthew, the co-ordinator of award-winning Dundee charity Eighteen and Under, expressed her concern at the figures but revealed that almost 600 young people had approached her staff seeking support following various forms of abuse in 2010 alone.
The organisation also dealt with thousands of emails and text messages from young people across Tayside and beyond confused about where to turn as they attempted to come to terms with the problems arising from abuse. However, Ms Matthew admitted that many young people who had been victims of sex crimes waited until adulthood to report the offences to police as they were often scared of repercussions.
“There are many reasons that survivors wait until they are 16 before talking about abuse and unfortunately one of the main reasons is fear of what will happen should they officially report the crime,” she said. “It seems to me that children fear the very child protection services that are supposed to be there to keep them safe.”
Ms Matthew, who carries out regular abuse prevention work in schools and also runs a drop-in crisis centre for young people, said that any child who felt he or she was being sexually abused could come to the charity for help. She added that all cases would be treated with “a high degree of confidentiality.”