Tanya Plibersek’s gut-wrenching reaction after daughter Anna Coutts-Trotter was molested by a man she should have been able to trust: ‘I wanted to kill him’

Labor Minister Tanya Plibersek has admitted she wanted to kill the man who abused and harassed her daughter when she was first told of the horrific attacks.

Anna Coutts-Trotter, 23, was the victim of severe emotional, physical, financial and sexual abuse as a teenager by a man she trusted.

She first met the man towards the end of Year 10, when she was just 15, and soon found herself spending most of her time with him.

But details later emerged about his alleged campaign of serious sexual assault and domestic violence, as well as behavior controlling and financial abuse.

Now Ms Plibersek has revealed how her thoughts immediately turned to revenge after hearing details of the sickening abuse.

“To be honest, I wanted to kill him because he hurt my child,” Ms Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water, told ABC’s Australian Story.

Anna Coutts-Trotter is co-founder of The Survivor Hub, a volunteer organization that helps ‘support, inform and empower people affected by sexual violence’

Ms Coutts-Trotter now helps other victims after co-founding it The survival huba voluntary organization that helps ‘support, inform and empower people affected by sexual violence.’

“I can’t suppress my anger because I think it’s holding me back,” Ms Coutts-Trotter told the program which aired on Monday evening.

“I felt loved, I felt like he cared about me.”

But that love turned into abuse, she revealed.

‘I’ve experienced almost every form of abuse you can imagine. I have experienced emotional and physical abuse,” Ms Coutts-Trotter said.

She hid the abuse from her family, but… finally broke her silence.

She said she was relieved to tell her parents. ‘They were so helpful. They didn’t ask too many questions. “I never felt like they didn’t understand,” she said.

Ms Coutts-Trotter was questioned in court for three days about the abuse which affected every aspect of her personality and character, she said.

“I felt like I was being deliberately misrepresented as someone that I wasn’t,” she told the show.

The man was convicted of assault, but was acquitted of the other charges against him.

It was later revealed that he had previously been convicted of similar crimes against other girls, but never served time in prison.

After the verdict, the politician’s daughter said she crawled into bed with her mother and father, Michael Coutts-Turner. “…and I cried for a long time,” she said.

After going through her daughter’s horrific experience, Ms Plibersek hopes victims of domestic violence will receive more support

Mrs Plibersek and her husband Michael Coutts-Trotter admire her daughter’s efforts in her work with The Survivor Hub

Ms Coutts-Trotter said she was inspired to set up The Survivor Hub by meeting Bek, another abuse victim who she met in court while awaiting trial.

“Even though Bek was a complete stranger to me, I felt like she understood me better than anyone else,” Ms. Coutts-Trotter said.

Her father – a former head of the NSW Department of Communities and Justice – added: “It’s no surprise this could happen to our daughter.

‘If someone is willing to use coercion and violence to get what he wants and has the skills of manipulation, it can happen to anyone.

‘The defense can and will use any tactic.

‘[But] the insights you get from traveling through the legal system with someone you love are different… It feels like it’s not a fair fight.”

After going through her daughter’s experience, Ms Plibersek hopes victims of domestic violence will receive more support.

“We keep talking about how are we going to change the justice system… how are we going to better support victims,” she said.

She continues: ‘Why don’t we ask ourselves: why is there so much sexual violence and domestic violence and why do teenagers behave this way?

“How is it acceptable in these young relationships to use violence and control?”

Ms Plibersek and her husband spoke on the show about how much they admire her daughter’s commitment to her work with The Survivor Hub.

Ms Plibersek added: ‘As much as I worry as a mother, as a woman, I admire what she is doing.’