Ghislaine Maxwell with paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein
(Picture: PA Media)Virgina Giuffre has told how Ghislaine Maxwell opened “the door to hell” by grooming victims for abuse by paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In an emotional victim impact statement to be read in court for Maxwell’s sentencing, Ms Giuffre described her pain and anguish of being procured for abuse by Epstein by the 60-year-old.
The British socialite, who was labelled “dangerous” by the prosecution during her three-week trial last year, helped entice vulnerable teenagers to the disgraced financier’s various properties for him to sexually abuse between 1994 and 2004.
She is being sentenced on Tuesday afternoon and faces up to 55 years behind bars for her crimes.
In the statement, released ahead of the court hearing, Ms Giuffre opened up about the long-lasting impact the abuse has had on her, saying the “unthinkable things” still have a “corrosive impact on me to this day”.
Addressing Maxwell directly, she said: “I want to be clear about one thing: without question, Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible paedophile.
“But I never would have met Jeffrey Epstein if not for you. For me, and for so many others, you opened the door to hell.
“And then, Ghislaine, like a wolf in sheep's clothing, you used your femininity to betray us, and you led us all through it.
“When you did that, Ghislaine, you changed the course of our lives forever. You joked that you were like a new mother to us.
“As a woman, I think you understood the damage you were causing - the price you were making us victims pay.”
The statement adds that despite the “almost indescribable” pain, “I will never give up”.
Maxwell was found guilty by a federal jury in New York on December 29 on five charges, including sex trafficking for the recruitment and grooming of four girls between 1994 and 2004 for Epstein.
Read Virginia Giuffre’s victim impact statement in full:
Your honour, my name is Virginia Roberts Giuffre. For more than two years, from age 16 to 19, I was abused by Ghislaine Maxwell.
Before I begin, I want to acknowledge and profusely thank the police, FBI investigators, prosecutors and judges who have invested their time and integrity in this case to hopefully set a precedent for victims and the hunters who prey upon them.
Now, if it pleases the court, I would like to address my victim impact statement directly to Ghislaine Maxwell.
Ghislaine, 22 years ago, in the summer of 2000, you spotted me at the Mar-a-Lago Hotel in Florida, and you made a choice. You chose to follow me and procure me for Jeffrey Epstein.
Just hours later, you and he abused me together for the first time. Together, you damaged me physically, mentally, sexually, and emotionally.
Together, you did unthinkable things that still have a corrosive impact on me to this day.
I want to be clear about one thing: without question, Jeffrey Epstein was a terrible paedophile. But I never would have met Jeffrey Epstein if not for you.
For me, and for so many others, you opened the door to hell.
And then, Ghislaine, like a wolf in sheep's clothing, you used your femininity to betray us, and you led us all through it.
When you did that, Ghislaine, you changed the course of our lives forever. You joked that you were like a new mother to us.
As a woman, I think you understood the damage you were causing - the price you were making us victims pay.
You could have put an end to the rapes, the molestations, the sickening manipulations that you arranged, witnessed and even took part in.
You could've called the authorities and reported that you were a part of something awful.
I was young and naive when we met, Ghislaine, but you knew that. In fact, you were counting on it.
My life as a young person was just beginning. You robbed me of that by exploiting my hopes and ambitions.
Ghislaine, the pain you have caused me is almost indescribable. Because of your choices and the world you brought me into, I don't sleep. Nightmares wake me at all hours.
In those dreams, I relive the awful things you and others did to me and the things you forced me to do.
Those memories will never go away. I have trouble meeting new people without questioning if somehow they are going to hurt me, too.
I don't allow my children to stay over at friends' houses, or to walk down the street alone.
I don't trust anyone to be near them without me or my husband close by.
I am hyper-vigilant, because I know that evil exists. You taught me that.
There is not a day that goes by that I don't ask "Why?" Why, Ghislaine, did you enjoy hurting us so much?
I worry every single day and night that you will get away with it and evade being punished.
I will worry about that until you are brought to justice. And what should that justice look like?
Ghislaine, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. You deserve to be trapped in a cage forever, just like you trapped your victims.
But, Ghislaine, I want you to know that, while you tried to break me, you didn't succeed.
Despite you, I have grown into a woman who tries to do good in the world - a woman who, on her best days, feels like she is making a difference.
My promise to you is as follows: As long as you and perpetrators like you continue to prey upon the vulnerable, I will not stop standing up and speaking out.
Together, with so many others you abused, we will do all we can to keep predators from stealing the innocence of children.
I will never give up. I will never go away. If you ever get out of prison, I will be here, watching you, making sure you never hurt anyone else again.
