Incest Victim Says More at Issue Than Judgment

A 21-year-old woman who won a $750,000 judgment in a suit against her father says the jury’s recognition of her as a victim of sexual abuse was more important than the money.

“The fact that I had been wronged meant a lot to me,” Jennifer Hawley said Tuesday during a news conference at the San Diego office of her attorney, James Scott.

On Monday, a San Diego Superior Court jury awarded the judgment to Hawley after finding that her adoptive father, Ronald, caused emotional distress through molestations.

The abuses occurred when Hawley was 13 years old.

The jury’s decision followed a four-day trial and a half day of deliberations.

At the news conference, Hawley said she brought the suit in the hope her father would seek and receive counseling and to try to prevent similar cases from happening to other children.

“The bottom line is that, from the beginning, the motivation was not the ultimate collection (of a reward),” Scott said.

Hawley said her younger sister and older brother never were molested by her father, although she said she was victimized repeatedly between Christmas, 1981, and Mother’s Day, 1982, while the family lived in Vista.

She said she told her mother about her father’s actions the day after Mother’s Day, 1982.

No criminal charges were filed against Ronald Hawley, reportedly because he was the sole wage earner in the family, and the mother feared disastrous financial consequences for the family should her husband go to jail.

The couple divorced after the molestations, although the family continues to receive financial support from Ronald Hawley, who works as a civil servant.

Jennifer Hawley filed the suit after she turned 18.