Approximately one out of every five women are sexually assaulted, and more than 60 percent of those crimes are unreported. Despite this fact, rape and sexual assault is not a fully understood issue throughout the world. Now, however, people are beginning to see just how prevalent and significant this issue is around the world.
Three women are charging former world champion kickboxer Curtis Page, 60, with sexual assault and rape. Furthermore, they are accusing him of a total 22 sexual assaults and rapes since they were children. The women claim he assaulted them as children while he was a martial arts instructor in England from 1985 to ’95.
One woman claims Page groped her when she was only 11 years old. Afterward, he took her virginity when she was 12 before starting a sexual relationship with her that lasted years.
Another woman claims she was taken advantage of. After she confided in Page that another older man sexually abused her, Page raped the woman, who was a minor at the time. Page allegedly continued to rape her multiple times over the course of the martial arts class. At one time, she claims he held a knife to her throat and threatened to “throw here out of the window of her 18th floor flat.”
The third woman claims Page indecently assaulted her twice while she was a minor. Once she turned 16, she claims he initiated a sexual relationship with her.
Accordingly, the victims’ prosecutor James Thacker said that Page has “a liking” for young girls.
“All of these girls lacked father figures in their lives and look up to Mr. Page as a person of authority,” Thacker explained. “He drove a wedge between them and their families.”
Page faces 14 indecent assault charges, six rape charges and two charges for having sex with a child under 13 years old. He denies all formal charges and claims he had sexual relations with all three of the women when they were an appropriate age.
Since the accusations, the Great Britain Martial Arts Association and the British Kickboxing Council banned him from teaching.
