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Sexual abuse victim: “As a kid I was a write-off”

Former professional ice hockey player Sheldon Kennedy has been in “long-term mental health hospitals” and spent time in jail due to the psychological effects of sexual abuse, he claims.

Speaking to 5 live’s Dotun Adebayo, he said he “felt like dying all the time” after suffering the abuse at the hand of his former coach, and became a “kid that was a write-off.”

”I always knew that that wasn’t me, but I was living that way”, he said.

“There is hope for everybody to move on and get through this and when we talk about this stuff, yes we have to understand what happened, but we also have to talk about a solution.”

Kennedy’s former coach Graham James pleaded guilty in 1997 to sexually abusing three players, including Sheldon Kennedy, and was sentenced to a 42-month prison term.

This clip is originally from Up All Night on Wednesday 7 December 2016.

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