‘The fear is that she is changed forever’published at 14:58 British Summer Time
14:58 BST
Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry
Solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly continues reading the statement from Child U’s mother.
She tells the inquiry the dreams she had for her daughter and her friend “are gone forever”.
She says: “I constantly worry about her future. I worry about the long-term effects of this trauma, about how adverse childhood experiences like this shape the adult she will become.
“I worry that she will carry guilt, shame, fear – none of which belong to her, but all of which were forced upon her.”
She says much of her daughter’s experiences are “all locked inside” because she still does not “feel safe” enough to share them – even to her mother.
She says: “But I see it in her in her eyes and in the way she holds herself, in the quiet moments when she thinks no-one else is watching.
“What I have shared here is only what I’ve been able to witness from the outside, because I am still on the outside in all of this.
“The rest, the deepest hurt she bears alone every single day. That in itself shows the depth of the damage, that she has learnt to protect herself by staying silent. I don’t like to say it but the fear is that she is changed forever.
“She lives each day trying to built some sense of safety in a world that betrayed her. She will forever carry the consequences of that day, of his actions forever.
“This is her reality. This is her life sentence.”
Those words conclude Child U’s mother’s statement.