{"id":968212,"date":"2026-05-18T07:13:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T07:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/968212\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T07:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T07:13:28","slug":"young-woman-raped-by-cousin-when-aged-10-says-it-was-like-a-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/968212\/","title":{"rendered":"Young woman raped by cousin when aged 10 says it was like ‘a knife’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I felt like my body was on fire” – these are a young woman’s words when recalling being raped by her cousin when she was 10.<\/p>\n

Marshena Dixon, who has waived her right to anonymity, has opened up about what happened to her 10 years ago after Callum Waterhouse was jailed earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Waterhouse was found guilty of several counts of rape of a girl under 13 and of multiple assaults of a child by penetration, among others.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old was convicted for offences in relation to two victims, Marshena, who was aged 10 at the time, and a second one who was aged 15 when the crimes took place.<\/p>\n

Speaking nervously over the phone, Marshena – who was living in Shirehampton at the time – said she was still in primary school when it all started, with the crimes happening in the summer before she started secondary school.<\/p>\n

She said that, while things escalated very quickly, it was not sexual straight away.<\/p>\n

“It started with him buying me whatever I wanted,” she said. “I thought he was the best, that he was the best cousin in the world.<\/p>\n

“He was 18 at the time, and he would get me energy drinks and I remember him buying us matching trainers.<\/p>\n

“Then one day, after he dropped me home, he texted me asking if I fancied him – but he was already treating me like his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

“He was saying it is okay if you fancy me and from then on he made me believe I was his girlfriend, but just not in front of his sister – he would act differently when it was just the two of us and in front of her.”<\/p>\n

\"Callum<\/p>\n

Callum Waterhouse(Image: Avon and Somerset Police )<\/p>\n

She added: “I did go along with it, I am not going to say I didn’t, but I was so young.<\/p>\n

“I did not have the ability to understand, I was not at an age where I could give consent.”<\/p>\n

Marshena said the crimes took place across three months and opened up about how being raped felt.<\/p>\n

“It was traumatic, it was not a thing a 10-year-old should have to experience”, she said. “It felt like a knife going in and out of me – I felt like my body was on fire.<\/p>\n

“There were times where I bled and I genuinely believed that is what should happen – I spent years believing that was right.<\/p>\n

“At the beginning I was covering up for Callum as I genuinely believed he was my boyfriend.”<\/p>\n

It was in 2018 that it all started coming out after Marshena received a text message from another victim of Callum, who had also texted his sister. It was this how Marshena’s mum found out.<\/p>\n

Marshena, now aged 20, recalls shutting down as her mum asked her questions in their living room, but she refused to go into detail. It was a few weeks later, aged 11 by this point, that she gave her first police interview.<\/p>\n

“It has ruined my life, as much as I hate to admit it,” she said. “I am very angry towards men, even though I know not every man is bad.<\/p>\n

“I have changed my identity, my social media, have cut my hair off and I prefer masculine clothes – I look like a boy now.<\/p>\n

“School was my biggest nightmare. I tried to be normal, to have boyfriends, but I could not do it – I would even struggle being taught by a male teacher.<\/p>\n

“I would refuse to wear a swimming costume. I was a very closed off kid – I felt like I was not like anyone else my age. He forced me to grow up.<\/p>\n

“If that hadn’t happened, I would be a normal girl with a boyfriend, but men look at me now like I am a monster.<\/p>\n

“I am very awkward [with men] and I am quick to get mad at them, I can not bond with them – I simply can not do it as I can’t trust them.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people probably think I want to be a boy, but it is just that I feel safer looking like a boy than a girl.”<\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

A stock imagine of a young woman<\/p>\n

Marshena, who now lives in the West Midlands, said she is terrified of sexual intimacy, describing Callum as her “only and last experience”.<\/p>\n

She said she has been in relationships with other girls in the past, but that is unable to go past kissing and cuddling as she doesn’t want to be touched.<\/p>\n

Describing her life as a “rollercoaster of different feelings”, Marshena said she feels angry, confused and upset.<\/p>\n

She has been diagnosed with various severe mental health conditions and is on several medications to her manage these.<\/p>\n

“Right now, I am unemployed,” she said. “I came out of school with no GCSEs as I hardly attended school.<\/p>\n

“I tried holding down a job [in retail] but there were too many men in that environment and it would make my skin crawl.<\/p>\n

“I will always blame him for taking everything away from me.<\/p>\n

“I just want to gain confidence and to be able to go out in the world and not feel scared.”<\/p>\n

Marshena – who is now considering working in witness protection – urged other victims of sexual abuse to be brave and to not be embarrassed, adding they will need patience in order to deal with the justice system.<\/p>\n

The court outcome<\/p>\n

Callum Waterhouse, of Llwyn-Yr-Eos, in Nelson, in Wales, was found guilty of:<\/p>\n