She will be taking the stand as a result of an article published by the Bedfordview and Edenvale NEWS in January 2012, following an interview she (Charmaine Slater) had conducted with Suellen Sheehan who alleged she was sexually abused by Bob Hewitt (see article below).
The decision to take the stand was based on allegations by Sheehan, who stated the NEWS published inaccurate information with regards to her interview.
Owing to these claims of inaccurate reporting, the NEWS felt compelled to take the stand and defend its integrity.
According to Caxton Publishers’ legal representative, Willem de Klerk, two journalists from other media houses have also received subpoenas to appear in court regarding articles they had written and had been published.
“Two other reporters have likewise been subpoenaed and have likewise, through their attorneys Webber Wentzel, said that they have decided to testify, for the same reasons,” said De Klerk.
“Ms Slater will be present at court and will testify, not because she is on Mr Hewitt’s side, nor on the side of the state, but only because her reporting has been called into question by Ms Sheenan on social media and that she and her employer, Caxton Publishers, feel compelled to set the record straight,” he said.
Below is the article published by the NEWS in January 2012. At the time, this article was accompanied by a second article detailing the NEWS’ attempts to obtain comment from Bob Hewitt. He pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape and one charge of sexual assault.
January 2012 article:
‘I survived his abuse’
“How do you find a nine-year-old attractive, how?”
The weeks since former Edenvale resident, Suellen Sheehan and a group of friends spoke out about allegedly being sexually abused by Bob Hewitt, reliving those years have taken an emotional toll on her.
Their stories in which they accuse the International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee have been covered by international media after an American woman accused Hewitt of sexual assault.
The article, published in the Boston Globe after five months of investigation, encouraged more women in America, South Africa and New Zealand to come forward, including the former Edenvale resident.
Suellen is one of four women who shared their stories with, among other media, HBO in a revealing documentary of the alleged abuse suffered at the hands of Hewitt.
The documentary aired in America at the end of November.
Shortly before the documentary aired, Suellen met with the NEWS to share her story.Now 43 years old, Suellen says that she trained with Hewitt at his Bedfordview home from the age of nine up until she was 14.
She grew up in Edenvale attending Hurlyvale Primary School and Edenglen High School before attending university in the United States.
“It is difficult for me to put the events from the years I spent with Bob into a timeline. Mentally the trauma of what happened was too much and my mind had blocked out most of the events,” Suellen said.
“I know where we were and I know what I saw, but my mind would completely block it out,” she said.
She has been working with her psychiatrist to find our exactly what happened to her.
During one of the sessions, Suellen found out that Hewitt had sex with her in the back of his car.
“I was 11 at the time, he wanted me to play tennis afterwards,” Suellen said.
Suellen was nine years old when Hewitt spotted her at a tennis tournament and offered to coach her.
“He was such a big tennis star. I wanted to be the best and I thought he would make me the best,” Suellen said.
According to her, initially when she started training with Hewitt, everything was alright, “but then he started acting strange”.
“He used to call the girls to a separate tennis court for individual training. I used to hate it, he made me feel uncomfortable,” Suellen said.
She added that during group training sessions Hewitt would lie on the court and watch the girls.
“The girls had to wear skirts during practice and it was only later in life that I realised that he would do this to look up our skirts,” Suellen said.
“When we did fitness training such as sit-ups, he would stand over us so that we could see up his shorts while he was not wearing any underwear.
“It is not something you want to see when you are that young,” Suellen said.
“At tennis tournaments, when we were not playing we would have to go and watch our opponents play, to get a grasp of their techniques. Bob would stand behind us and rub himself up against us and get aroused. He did this whether or not our parents were there. When you are that young, you do not know what is happening,” Suellen said.
She said that Hewitt accompanied several of the young promising tennis stars on a tournament to America when she was 12 years old.
“The one night he called us to his hotel room individually to collect our pocket money. He was lying on the bed naked with a small towel covering his genitals and his briefcase on top of the towel,” Suellen said.
She added that his wife was in the room at the time.
“He would declare his undying love to me and I really believed him. He made me believe that he loved me. But I did not know that he was doing the same to all the other girls. I thought I was the only one,” Suellen said.
She added that Hewitt would call the girls down to his clubhouse where “he would look down our panties to see how our pubic hair was growing”.
Hewitt was 40 years old at the time.
“He would also on occasions call the girls down to the clubhouse for a pep talk and then manipulate the situation and have us kiss it (his penis),” Suellen said.
“He preyed on little girls. What he did to me as a child has ruined me as an adult,” she said.
“To this day I cannot stand a man with stubble on his face, Bob always had stubble,” Suellen said.
“Since the story broke, he has not denied any of the accusations, I remember reading one of the articles and he said that he was sorry if he offended any of us. He did not offend us, he ruined our lives,” Suellen said.
She added that over the years she had not received any support from her parents.
“As a child growing up in a very conservative house we never spoke about sex. I was introverted and Bob was a well-respected man,” Suellen said.
“My mom always had a dream of becoming a professional tennis star and she lived her dream through me. She chose to ignore it when I told her what Bob was doing. I have not seen my parents in three years, they have disowned me and I am fine with that,” Suellen said.
“She (her mother) called me a pathological liar. If I was the only one then I could understand but there are a lot of us all saying the same thing,” she said.
Suellen said that many people have asked the women why they are only coming forward now, so many years after the alleged abuse took place.
“We never said anything, not even to each other. Each of us thought it was just us. We have all stayed friends over the years and we are in contact each day but no one ever said anything about the abuse,” Suellen said.
“The first time we spoke to each other about what had happened was when the story broke after an investigation by the Boston Globe. That is when we realised that he had been doing this for 10 years before us and for 10 years after us,” she said.
“We hope that by exposing what happened to us it will help other children who are going through the same thing to speak to someone about it. Never for one moment think that it will not happen to your daughter or son. Parents should never turn their backs on their children.
“Whether it is emotional or physical abuse, abuse is abuse and no one on this planet should have to go through it alone,” Suellen said.
The NEWS has been given copies of letters allegedly written by Hewitt to Twiggy Tolken, another of the women who came forward about the alleged abuse by Hewitt.
At the bottom left hand corner of one of the letters, he signs the letter and writes “PS. Destroy this and the last one NOW. I love you Bob”.
Suellen and the other women have started an online petition to have Hewitt removed from the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Hewitt was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992 after a career spanning decades and numerous titles behind his name.
