The nightmare lived for seven whole months by the 16-year-old rowing athlete who denounces that she was sexually abused by her coach in Thessaloniki, reveals the Greek protothema.gr.
According to protothema.gr, in the lawsuit filed at the Prosecutor's Office of Thessaloniki by the parents of the minor and the family's lawyer, Otto Papadopoulos, the 16-year-old athlete describes in detail and specific details the horror she complains that she lived for months by her 38-year-old coach. At the same time, the incident has also been reported to the Department for the Protection of Minors of the Security Department of Thessaloniki, in order not to waste valuable time and to investigate the serious complaint in depth.
The man, wearing the "mask" of a man who cared only for the welfare of his athlete, who managed to secure great individual and team distinctions, allegedly repeatedly engaged in lewd acts against her and sexually exploited her from December last year to June this year, while allegedly exerting psychological pressure and issuing threats to prevent her from making a complaint and exposing his actions.
According to the minor, the coach engaged in manipulative behavior towards her and tried to convince her that what was happening was normal between athlete-coach relationships. She described how she "froze" and her legs began to shake when the coach approached her, hugged and kissed her, as she did not know how to handle the unfamiliar situation she was facing at that age.
The 38-year-old coach, is engaged and appeared to be a person above suspicion. He had been coaching the underage athlete since the age of 13 and had managed to gain her and her family's trust. However, his behaviour in recent months, according to the minor's complaint, was completely different towards her. The 38-year-old had isolated the minor from the other athletes on the team and dealt exclusively with her on the grounds that she was the team's greatest talent. This behaviour did not arouse suspicion among the other athletes, as the coach appeared to be a very serious person who had never given rights.
He sexually exploited her at practice, in the team van, at his home and on Airbnb
Describing the horror of the situation she complained of being trapped in and trying to escape for nearly eight months, until the moment she broke down and found the courage to reveal her nightmare to her family, the 16-year-old athlete gave specific points and dates when her coach sexually exploited her and molested her body while she was unable to react.
"I froze, I didn't know what to do. I don't know from these things and how to react. My legs started shaking. He understood and told me "don't be nervous." He told me that "you shouldn't be upset" as "it's not a bad thing" and asked me if I wanted him to stroke me," are just some of the things described by the minor and published by the Greek protothema.gr.
The minor claims that her coach sexually abused her several times and in different places, all these months that she was afraid to talk and received threats. Her nightmare allegedly unfolded even after practice and the times when her coach telephoned the other members of the team not to come, giving the excuse that he wanted to train alone with the rowing champion and prepare her for races.
The alleged acts allegedly took place for the first time at the home of the 38-year-old, who took advantage of the moment when the minor's family had focused their attention on his second childs who was facing a serious health problem and offered to take the 16-year-old to training and return her home himself. The parents, having full confidence in the 38-year-old coach, whom they had known for years and appeared to be a serious and measured man, thanked him profusely for his understanding and support, unable to imagine what their child would experience in his hands.
As the minor revealed, the 38-year-old man who had been assigned to bring her back from training decided that he needed to make a stop at his house to pick up some things and suggested that she go up to the apartment to wait for him. That was when he took the opportunity to molest her. In addition, on at least one occasion he allegedly drove her and sexually exploited her in one of the apartments he maintains and operates on a short-term lease, the address of which is also mentioned in the complaint.
Among the allegations made by the minor, according to the same information, is that the 38-year-old also sexually exploited her twice in the rowing club's van, which is used to transport athletes to training sessions, while his attitude was unbearably pushy towards her and he would not stop harassing her.
The revelation of the nightmare and the complaint about the child psychologist
The parents of the 16-year-old, who is a straight-A student, realised in the previous period that she was very bad psychologically and turned to a child psychologist in order to help her and understand what had happened. The minor may not have been able to talk to her parents about what she had been experiencing for several months, but she disclosed to the child psychologist the sexual abuse and pressure she was receiving from her coach.
However, as her family complains, instead of the specialist alerting her parents to make a complaint and save their child from the nightmare she was living, she called a joint session between victim and perpetrator, without mentioning anything to them.
According to protothema.gr, the 16-year-old allegedly claims that when the 38-year-old met the child psychologist he seemed to know her, but this remains to be proven in the next period.
It is noted that the rowing sports club, where the complainant worked, immediately ceased their cooperation, while the family of the minor does not intend to move legally against the club.
The legal view
"The family is determined to take the case to the end so that responsibility can be attributed and the accused can never do the same acts again. We await the developments and the investigation," the family's lawyer, Otto Papadopoulos, told protothema.gr.
"For this particular case, it is extremely interesting that when the girl's parents saw that she was in a very bad psychological state, without being able to explain why, they assigned the monitoring of the child to a special child psychologist, to whom the child finally revealed what it was that was happening to her and has resulted in the deterioration of her psychological state. Subsequently, this child psychologist not only did not communicate the slightest thing to the child's parents, but instead held joint conferences of the child with the coach, who was the same person who committed the offence of abuse of a minor in lewdness against her, by a person competent and responsible for her supervision," he noted about the unbelievable attitude of the child psychologist.
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