Woman with 2,500 personalities watches abusive father get locked away

A woman who developed 2,500 personalities to cope with the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father has watched him get locked away.

Jennifer Haynes was raped and molested by her father from the age of four to 11 between 1974 and 1981. The Australian was then forced to testify against him when he refused to admit to his crimes and insisted on being tried at court after she reported him at the age of 39.

In the video below, Haynes recounts testifying against her father: 

According to 7 News, she developed dissociative identity disorder as a coping mechanism. It is an illness characterized by the development of multiple personalities, of which Haynes has 2,500, and other symptoms like detachment from reality and memory loss. 

But today, Haynes' father Richard was finally brought to justice at Downing Centre District Court in Sydney. Judge Sarah Huggett sentenced him to 45 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 33 years after he finally admitted to 25 offences including rape.

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Richard refused to make eye contact with his daughter as he was led to the cells, reporter Kelly Fedor tweeted.

Haynes, grinning from ear to ear, told reporters outside that she was now free to live her life.

She said: "It's my life now, isn't it - it's mine. I can have my life and do all the things I've always wanted to do."

"I can live with him in a jail. I don't have to think about it ever again.

I cannot speak highly enough of the judge because she has recognized in her sentence that I need this to end, I need my life to be about me."

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Now, Haynes is hoping that her decision to speak out about the abuse she suffered will encourage others to do the same.

A reporter asked her: "Tell us how you're going?"

She replied: "Forty-five years, holy s***".

"I was hoping for 25, so I just got a massive bonus.

I'm ecstatic, I could not be happier. I think that the judge was brilliant - she recognized the enormity of what he did and the enormity of the impact, because it's not just me, people who abuse children, the impact they put on that child, goes forever.

What worried me was that he would get a short non-parole period and I would have to go back to court and do it all over again."