A WOMAN who says she was abused by former Ireland rugby international Davy Tweed has branded him a "bully and a paedophile" following his death.
Mr Tweed was riding a motorbike when he was involved in a fatal crash on Whitepark Road, close to Dunseverick, Co Antrim, on Thursday afternoon.
A former Orangeman and member of the DUP, he later joined the TUV.
He was sentenced to eight years for child sex abuse but his convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in October 2016.
Amanda Brown, who testified against him in court, told the Sunday World that Mr Tweed had "ruined my childhood".
Now a 41-year-old mother-of-one, Ms Brown, said she was abused by Mr Tweed when she was a young girl.
"My earliest clear memory was from around aged eight... I also have earlier fragmented memories of waking with a feeling of being pinned down and terrified," she said.
"I lived with this abuse. I learned how to hide it all from everyone around me. I did this out of fear of what would happen if people knew.
"Given how violent he was, I spent my childhood afraid he would kill myself... As a child I had no doubt that he was capable of this."
Warms tributes were paid to Mr Tweed following his death.
Ms Brown said the comments "stick in my throat".
"I have spent a lot of time dealing with my trauma and getting over the PTSD I suffered as a result of the sexual abuse and domestic violence," she said.
"So my overall takeaway from learning of the passing of Davy Tweed is that he can no longer hurt anyone else."
Ms Brown said she had begun to heal after Mr Tweed was sentenced to eight years for child sex abuse.
But she said she was devastated when his appeal was upheld in 2016.
"This shook my world at the time," she said.
"I didn't understand. There was no new evidence. He got out on the 'bad character' clause.
"The technicality was in how the judge addressed the jury in relation to this."
She added: "I was asked if I wanted to go to a retrial, but decided not to because I would have to go through all the stress again and he wouldn't spend any more time in jail."
