Larry Nassar's campaign of abuse is a travesty that could have been avoided
Gymnasts who tried to complain were ignored but the disgraced doctor's sentencing may change how sex assault cases are handled.
Wednesday 24 January 2018 22:45, UK
When Judge Rosemarie Aquilina delivered Larry Nassar's sentence, you could almost hear the courtroom exhale.
Just a few minutes earlier, some of his victims had shuddered in disgust when he turned and attempted an apology for what he had done.
It would be the last time his physical presence would illicit the familiar feeling of revulsion so many of them had described.
Now the man who had caused so much pain over such a prolonged period was going to prison for the rest of his life.
Some of the younger ones sobbed, overwhelmed by the moment, holding on to mums and dads who offered words of comfort.
The older survivors hugged one another, whispering encouragement: "I am so proud of you" and "We did it".
The prosecutor and her team embraced the young women and their families one by one, huge smiles of relief on tired faces.
This was, the prosecutor told me, the most important kind of victory - the kind that might shift an entire sport on its axis, the kind that might change the way we look at sexual assault cases, and crucially, the way we treat victims who work up the courage to come forward.
That was the hardest thing, really, for all of the survivors who sat through those extraordinary seven days in courtroom five.
It was the knowledge that victims had in fact tried to come forward over the years, trying to be heard, trying to say the unsayable.
"Larry Nassar is sexually abusing me. Larry Nassar is hurting me."
But they were ignored, Nassar was protected, and so the horrific assaults continued.
Hundreds of them. And they are just the ones we know of.
It is an utter travesty. And heartbreakingly, had someone just listened, it could have been avoided.