Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame told a court she reached a breaking point and feared for her life after discovering disturbing social media posts she believed had been aimed at her by her childhood abuser.
Ms Tame gave evidence at Hobart Magistrates Court on Tuesday during a special hearing involving Nicolaas Ockert Bester, who sexually abused her in 2010 while she was his 15-year-old student.
The court heard that police found a “revenge” folder on portable devices during a 2022 raid. It allegedly contained photographs and videos of Ms Tame.
Bester was charged in 2022 with three offences involving the use of a carriage service to menace, harass or offend. He has pleaded not guilty.
The 74-year-old allegedly published social media posts targeting Ms Tame, who was named Australian of the Year in 2021 after becoming a prominent advocate for survivors of sexual abuse.
Prosecutors read three public messages posted to Twitter in 2022 from an account called NicoBester3.
Each post referred to Ms Tame’s former school email address, which was connected to her Facebook account. That platform was the primary way Bester contacted her during the abuse.
“At last I will come for (the email address),” the first message stated.
Grace Tame says she did not need to imagine her abuser’s capacity to cause harm
Nicolaas Ockert Bester is a notorious pedophile but has been declared unfit to face trial
In the second post, Bester allegedly said he was “coming”, comparing himself with Donald Trump and British far-right figures Tommy Robinson and Milo Yiannopoulos. The message said there were only “10 weeks to go”.
The third message read: “Here it comes! Only four weeks to go! The good old comeuppance on its way (the email address).”
Ms Tame said she became aware of the posts gradually before recognising that the references to 10 weeks and four weeks appeared to count down to the publication of her book.
The messages transported her back to the abuse, which took place on the floor of a classroom at his school, she told the court.
“I was horrified, terrified and quite disturbed,” Ms Tame said.
“To me this was a signal of a very real commitment to follow through with some kind of public-facing plan to inflict harm upon me.”
She said she believed Bester’s reference to her childhood email address could be a threat to publish sexualised messages exchanged during the period when he groomed her.
“I was also legitimately scared for my life,” she said, noting that Bester had previously told her stories about killing people while serving in the army.
KEEP READING: 8 People Who Should Not Drink Beer And Why – NewsFinale
“This is a man who had psychologically tortured and repeatedly raped me. I did not need to imagine his capacity to cause harm.”
Ms Tame said the alleged posts prompted her to increase security during a national book tour. She also told the court she was nearing rock bottom and experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Tasmania Police constable Declan Gillett told the court a folder of media coverage of Ms Tame in a folder named ‘wraak’ – Afrikaans for revenge – was found on Bester’s portable hard drives.
There was also an outgoing email from Bester’s email account to men’s rights activist and former sex therapist Bettina Arndt sent in 2017.
It included an attached document with purported Facebook messages sent between Bester and Ms Tame during the 2010 abuse, Const Gillett said.
If Ms Tame found out about the email in 2022, it would have been devastating, she said.
‘Worst-case scenario, it would have driven me towards the end.’
Bester, who the court was previously told has dementia, was in February deemed unfit to stand trial for medical reasons.
In a special hearing, the court can make a finding of not guilty, not guilty on mental health grounds or that a finding of not guilty cannot be made.
A guilty verdict is not available.
Bester watched the hearing via a video link from an undisclosed location.
The former maths teacher was in 2011 sentenced to two years and 10 months in jail for abusing Ms Tame and for possessing child exploitation material.
He was jailed in 2016 for four months for producing child exploitation material after describing the abuse online.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636