Hi everyone, Erin here. Firstly, thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring! The first 7 years of this case I was swept under the carpet by police who were made a mockery of by these prolific criminals playing cat and mouse and also really badly bullied. As you can imagine at 15 it turned me into a hermit, one with a real burden. At 21 I’d had enough and I opted out of my name suppression so I could have a crack at solving my own case and putting a stop to these creatures. I was so overwhelmed by the support and still find it hard to accept sometimes. I’m now 31 and finally had them convicted this year and I’m so ready to just live my life now. Financial benefit was never any part of my decision for name suppression being removed, and luckily, it was a crown court case, so I didn’t incur any legal fees. It probably financially has cost me, having a hand break on my career, always fighting a court case in the background of my apprenticeship wasn’t easy, but more than anything it’s cost me a lot of my life (over half my life has been spent in the system!) and at times, my happiness. Sadly, not even money can bring those things back. As amazing of a gesture this was, I know there are many others fighting their own battles and really struggling. I would so love a worthy non profit, mental health organisation to have this money. Open to ideas if gumboot Friday won’t accept it. Failing this, a reputable, non profit horse welfare group would be fantastic too. The horses saved me, and I’ve been so lucky to have a life working with them.
Thanks again, everyone, truly, it means the world having people in my corner.
