Craig Silvey’s ex-partner Clare Testoni breaks silence for first time following disgraced author’s conviction

Clare Testoni, the former partner of convicted paedophile and disgraced children’s author Craig Silvey, has broken her silence for the first time since his sentencing.

Silvey was on Monday jailed for seven months over disturbing child exploitation offences, including where he sent a sexually explicit photo of a man and a pre-pubescent boy and told another user on an adult website he was “drooling” over it.

The 44-year-old was arrested in January following a dramatic raid of his Fremantle home — which he shared with Ms Testoni and their three young children.

Detectives seized an iPhone and MacBook from his makeshift study which contained five videos and seven photographs of child exploitation material.

Ms Testoni separated from him soon after learning of his vile crimes, which she has described in a statement as a “great betrayal”.

“I am sorry for those who have been hurt by Craig’s crimes. I’m especially sorry for the victims. All children deserve to be safe and loved. That is what I hope to provide for my girls,” she said.

“Since learning of his crimes I’ve had the hardest year of my life. With little children and no employment, this betrayal came at the time in my life when I was most financially and socially vulnerable.

“It is hard to rebuild friendships after escaping a toxic relationship when you are the sole parent to three under four. It is harder still while being followed by the Daily Mail on your way to Centrelink.

“We separated as soon as I learned of his crimes, but he remains the father of our children. Reconciling how he will be in their lives is an ongoing project that I don’t think anyone else can understand until it happens to them.”

The mother-of-three asked for grace as she and her daughters navigated being “secondary victims” of Silvey’s crimes.

“I am not my previous relationship, and my girls are not their father. I ask that you take us on our own terms. We are secondary victims in this. We have suffered greatly,” she said.

“I hope to tell a new story going forward. I hope. I hope.”

Ms Testoni’s statement, published to Substack, was subheaded, “For the record I was on Substack first”, in reference to Silvey’s 9000-word “apology” also published on the platform just hours after he was jailed.

In his lengthy diatribe, he described suffering “emotional neglect, violence and sexual abuse” as a child, which he suppressed and compartmentalised as a coping mechanism.

Silvey said his foray into online pornography started out as “tame” and “vanilla”, but quickly escalated into a “confusing world of bodies and power dynamics, sex and shame”.

“I am guilty of these offences. I am appalled and mortified by my conduct, and I am deeply, profoundly sorry,” he wrote.

“I want to acknowledge that my engagement with this material is reprehensible and indefensible.”

Details of Silvey’s depraved online conversations were laid bare in the District Court, including revelations he “preferred” children over the age of five, but that “eight was the perfect age”.

He started a conversation with a “fictitious” user on an adult website on January 7, and described himself as “obsessed with taboos” — including young children.

“Fremantle guy here, you sound amazing . . . we have very similar interests, would love to chat more. Do you have Signal or Session?” he wrote.

Silvey also wrote: “I love, love, love, love mums being intimate with little boys. I think it’s the sexiest and most beautiful thing in the world.”

Judge Hayley Cormann said his offending was “repulsive”, “degrading” and “unmistakable”.

“You did this as a means to engage with others, and ultimately as a means to sexually satisfy yourself as part of your fantasies,” she said.

Silvey’s sentence was backdated to October 22, after he spent 11 days in custody earlier in the year. He was made eligible for parole.

Silvey is best known for his young adult novels Runt, Jasper Jones and Honeybee, set around Perth and Western Australia.

He has won several awards, and his novels were regularly used as material in the school curriculum.

Earlier in the year, news of the shocking charges prompted his books to be pulled from the shelves of major retailers and independent bookstores.

His top titles were also stripped from school reading lists nationwide.

Silvey’s brother, Bret, was jailed for 12 years in May last year after swindling property developer Randal Humich — one of Perth’s biggest CBD landlords — and his father, Ivan Humich, out of $71 million.

According to Silvey’s “apology”, Bret also scammed his brother of his life savings.

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