AN SNP MP has broken his silence to reveal that his wife was sexually attacked at the age of six and that the ordeal has left a lasting impact on his family.
Roger and Barbara Mullin decided to tell their story exclusively to The National after Michelle Thomson told the Commons last week how she was raped by someone she knew when she was 14 years old.
Mullin, who represents Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, said he wanted to speak out in a further bid to raise public awareness of sexual violence and break the taboo surrounding the issue.
At Thomson’s request, 68-year-old Mullin sat behind her in the Commons last Thursday when she gave her remarkable speech, calmly telling how she was taken into a wooded area and raped on her way home from a youth event.
Mullin said he was close to tears during Thomson’s speech and “in bits” when he left the chamber.
“I was very moved that Michelle asked me to sit behind her. It was an amazing speech, but what Michelle didn’t know was that my wife Barbara was sexually assaulted when she was six and like Michelle it left its mark into adulthood,” he said.
“So my tears were for both Michelle and Barbara. I was fighting back the tears in the chamber when I was sitting behind Michelle, and when I walked out, I was in bits.”
Barbara Mullin, a retired businesswoman, said Thomson’s ordeal and the feelings she recalled of self-blame and guilt resonated with her own experience after being attacked.
Barbara, 67, was sexually assaulted as she headed home with some friends from a sweet shop in her home town of Ayr more than 60 years ago. She said the assault happened after she got left behind by the group and an elderly man grabbed her and pulled into a side lane.
Barbara said she screamed and two women came running into the lane, chased the assailant and took her home, where the police and a doctor were called.
She said she remembers the physical examination being very painful and believes it may have compounded the trauma of the attack. The witnesses were later able to identify the attacker and he was jailed for three months, she added.
“I struggled at school, I struggled at college. I had no self-confidence, “ she told The National.
“I believe the attack gave me very low self-esteem and after being diagnosed with clinical depression I saw a psychologist who told me I had probably been depressed on and off for most of my life without realising.
“I got counselling, and although I still get bouts of depression they are not as frequent. The attack may not have been solely to blame for my depression, but it was certainly a part of the equation.”
She added: “I decided to open up about this and tell about my experience as I am concerned there are young children out there who perhaps don’t tell their parents, or if they do perhaps their parents don’t accept what’s happened, so I wanted to speak out to encourage parents to listen to what their children tell them and report it.”
Roger Mullin, who is a Treasury spokesman for the SNP, has set up a petition calling for parliamentarians to speak up on sexual violence. "I would never have contemplated speaking about this issue which has had an impact on my family if it had not been for Michelle’s speech,” he said.
“Clearly it is up to individuals affected to speak out if they want to, including about personal experiences which have a profound and lasting impact.
“However, of course it is up to the individual. The last thing I would want to do would create an expectation where people feel they have got to speak about their experiences. But if people want to speak out then it can be helpful to others.”
Mullin was among the SNP MPs who urged the SNP’s National Executive Committee to reinstate Thomson to the SNP group earlier this year after she stood down from the party whip after a police investigation into her property deals.
Last night, Mullin said: “I have never treated Michelle as if she is not a part of the SNP group and I am not alone in that. To me Michelle is one of our outstanding SNP MPs and I will continue to treat her as one of our standing SNP MPs well into the future.”
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