I was raped by my stepdad aged 8… his words when I confronted him will haunt me forever – he’s a monster
A WOMAN raped by her stepdad from the age of eight has revealed his chilling confession when she bravely confronted him.
Michelle Sallis was attacked by evil David Sallis in a sickening five-year campaign of abuse.
When the 27-year-old confronted the “monster”, he told her: “I just wanted to know what it felt like to have sex with someone else.”
Michelle has now bravely waived her anonymity to open up about her ordeal in a bid to help others.
She said: “My stepfather raped me in my own bed, in my bedroom, as a little girl. It was the one place I should have felt safe.
“From the moment I met him, I was wary of him and anxious around him. Perhaps I had a sense, even as a little girl, that he was a monster.
“It was only aged 16, when I learned about consent at school, that I realised it was so wrong. It took me years to pluck up courage to confront him and he just admitted it, as though it was no big deal.
“I haven’t had support from my family, and it’s been a hard journey. But I feel as though the burden has been lifted.
“I would encourage all other victims of abuse to speak out and to get help. Staying silent is what enables perpetrators. I feel now I have a voice.”
Michelle was six years old when she first met Sallis after her mum started a relationship with him.
He soon moved into the family home in Bury, Greater Manchester, and Michelle was a bridesmaid at their wedding.
The auxiliary nurse said she did not feel comfortable in the same room as Sallis before the abuse began and believes she “sensed the evil in him”.
Michelle said: “The sexual assaults began when I was 8. It started with touching, and it progressed until he raped me aged 8.
“I had no idea what it was, but I knew I hated it. Because I wasn’t used to having a dad, I presumed maybe this was what all dads did.”
The vile abuse continued up to three times a week as Sallis attacked Michelle in her bedroom, tents he pitched in the garden and a paddling pool.
On one occasion, the evil stepdad took the youngster camping and raped her in a field.
Sallis would threaten Michelle and made her promise not to reveal the horror to anyone as social services would take her away.
The nightmare ordeal only ended when Michelle turned 12 and moved in with a friend from school.
But she did not realise she had been raped until she was 16 and learnt about consent in school.
She said: “I had always thought of rape as a violent act – an attack by stranger down a dark alleyway. I didn’t associate this with what had happened to me.
“Yet I also slowly realised that it was the worst betrayal of all to be raped by my step-dad, in my own room, in my own bed.
“It was a lot to deal with. I tried all sorts of new starts, moving house, getting a new job, meeting a new partner, but nothing helped.
“I drank a lot, to blot out the memory. I felt like I was constantly running, constantly fleeing the memory of the abuse.”
Reaching breaking point, Michelle confronted her stepdad in front of her mum and other family members and was stunned when he owned up.
Sallis, now 47, pleaded guilty to five counts of rape and assault by penetration at Preston Crown Court.
He was jailed for 14 years and three months in August for the “lengthy and sustained period of the worst kind of sexual abuse”.
Michelle is now trying to move on with her life with her new partner.
She said: “I felt the sentencing was probably about right, given the guidelines but he can never be adequately punished for what he did.
“I don’t want my story to define me, I want to look forwards and enjoy my life. But I want to try and help others by speaking out. The shame belongs to the abusers, and not to the survivors.”