CONTENT NOTICE: This article contains graphic references to child sexual abuse and domestic violence some might find upsetting. Reader discretion is appreciated.
A woman has come forward to allege sickening abuse suffered at the hands of her trans-identified male ex-partner, and accuse police and prosecutors of refusing to act on his campaign of pedophilia because of his gender identity. Maya, whose name and location in the United Kingdom are being withheld for her protection, claims she was told she would have to refer to her abuser by “she/her” pronouns in court if called to testify against him while he was facing charges of sexually abusing his own daughter.
Maya says that she first met 45-year-old father-of-two Phil Bush in 2009 when she was just 16.
“He was my friend’s father” she says. “And my friend’s house was a bit of an escape for me. He was very nice to me at first.”
The relationship, Maya says, started as grooming. She reports that Bush began making sexual advances towards her whenever she was at his home, something that initially made her feel “special” and cared for.
“One time, me and my friend were going out, and he made a couple of comments about my figure. Next time I was there it was a hand brushed against my bum, then another time my boob.”
But things quickly began to escalate after she moved into his home.
“I was having a terrible time at my own home, and he told me I could stay with him and his eldest daughter, who lived with him. I initially went there for a weekend, but that turned into two weeks, and eventually I had just moved in,” Maya says. “He told his daughter we were together. He told my social worker we were together. And I was stuck. I couldn’t go home, and I had nowhere to go.”
Maya alleges that Bush began sexually abusing her while she was in his unofficial care. She learned that Bush’s ex-wife had reported him to police for sexual abuse, but nothing had ever been done and Bush was allowed to retain custody of his two daughters.
Over the years, Maya says, she suffered immense abuse and trauma. But with no social support or financial resources, she felt that she had nowhere else to turn.
Speaking to Reduxx, Maya recounts an incident in which Bush raped her in front of his own 15-year-old daughter before turning his attention on the other girl.
“One time, me and his daughter had set up the floor with mattresses, pillows, blankets and snacks. I thought it was so cool they had Sky TV,” she says. “He came in, and laid behind me, and forced himself inside me. He raped me. Whilst I was laying next to his daughter. Then he got in the middle and sexually assaulted us both.”
In 2012, Maya became pregnant by Bush and gave birth to a baby girl.
“I was scared but I was excited. I think I was hoping that the abuse would stop,” Maya says. But soon after her daughter was born, Bush began to try and ‘parent’ the child in increasingly concerning ways. The new mother, just 19 at the time, began to recognize she needed to escape.
“I went home, picked my daughter up and we left with what we were wearing, £7 in my bank, and my phone.”
In September of 2015, Maya took her daughter to a domestic violence refuge and reported Bush to police for the abuse she had suffered. He was arrested and bailed, but she felt as though police were actively discouraging her from proceeding with the case.
“I felt like a suspect while being questioned, and then they kept saying it would take two years if it went to trial. The stress and anxiety I felt was too much,” she says. “After a week or two, he got word to me that if I dropped everything, he would leave my daughter to me. That he wouldn’t fight for custody of her. If not, he would go for full custody.”
Mistreated by police and frightened by Bush’s threats, Maya backed down. She and her daughter spent the next year cycling through temporary housing arrangements and shelters while keeping their distance from him.
In April of 2016, just months after fleeing, Maya’s daughter, then just 3 years old, began to articulate that something terrible had happened to her.
“She had limited language. While she was trying to potty train, and was trying to get her doll on the mini potty, she said that her dad hurt her. [She] pointed to the doll’s privates, and said ‘here.'”
Maya alleges that the child had seen Bush abuse and sexually assault her, and also noted that her daughter had developed distressed behavior around toilets after he attempted to “potty train” her.
“She had big aversions to potty training and took to urinating in pots, trays, even crisp packets.”
Children and Young Persons Services were notified and conducted an investigation, but the outcome was disappointing.
“They determined it didn’t meet the threshold for an investigation because of her age, her level of communication, and the time lapsed since the offenses took place,” Maya explains. “I had been signposted to various support networks for children to cope with sexual abuse trauma, and I started to work with them with the help of a community health visitor.”
Maya’s daughter is currently receiving trauma stabilization therapy for complex developmental issues she believes is related to her abuse.
“He has scarred her for life, mentally. She has serious mental health issues because of him. She can’t attend school due to anxiety,” Maya says.
In 2019, Bush discovered where Maya and her daughter were living, sending the two fleeing back into refuges out of fear. It was around this time that Maya learned Bush had transitioned.
“He emailed me out of the blue acting as if he were my best friend,” Maya says. “It was bizarre. I laughed. It made me so angry that he’d sexually assaulted girls and women but now he can put on his frock and make-up and claim to be a woman.”
Maya provided Reduxx a copy of the e-mail Bush had sent in which he revealed his transition.
“I am starting down the path of changing to a woman, the woman that I have known all my life that I should have been,” Bush wrote, adding that he had been referred to the Gender Identity Clinic.
“I love women and will continue to love women once I have fully transitioned… then I will be gay as I will be a lesbian,” he continued in an e-mail littered with comical emojis. “But now I can dress in nice things, let my feelings show, and all that stuff! Make-up at the moment is a bit hit and miss. I will have to change my name on everything in the near future but haven’t really found one that I like yet.”
The news of Bush’s new gender identity coincided with a police report filed against him by his eldest daughter for the sexual abuse she’d endured throughout her life.
At the time, Maya was approached to provide a witness testimony on behalf of the victim, but, disturbingly, was told she would have to affirm Bush’s new identity if the case made it to court.
“I was told that if it went to court, I would have to address him as ‘she’ and could be looked down upon if I refused,” Maya says. “How the hell do you sit in court and say ‘she raped me with her penis?’ It is lying.”
But despite having multiple witness testimonies and additional evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service abruptly dropped the case. Maya believes Bush’s newfound gender identity may have played a part.
“There was a lot of evidence against him. The police officer was sure it would go to court,” she said. “I really think that they didn’t want to take it further because he’s trans.”
Maya came forward to Reduxx after losing hope in the criminal justice system.
“I don’t think I, or any of his other victims, will ever get justice. I’ve tried. Others have tried, and nothing. The police aren’t interested,” she explains. “I find it so unfair that the effects of his crimes will last on his victims for the rest of our lives. Yet he can just go around pretending he’s never done anything. And people won’t know.”
Disturbingly, Maya says that Bush “absolved” himself of his past behavior by deferring to his new, feminine persona.
“Once, I tried to tell him how his abuse had affected me. He said ‘Phil is dead now, I’m Jean,” Maya recounts. “So he thinks he can put on a frock and it absolves everything he did. I just don’t understand how someone can get away with it for so long, and nothing happens. How many more men out there like him are there?”
Though she does fear retribution from Bush, Maya says her desire to inform others about her experience outweighs her concern.
“I want people to know. I want them to know that children aren’t protected by the justice system. I want them to know what he has done. I want people to realize this is the truth. I lost family and friends because of him, I had to leave my old life behind while he creates a new life for himself,” she says.
“And honestly, there isn’t anything he could possibly do to me that would be any worse than what he’s already done. I’ve spent 8 years protecting us, and I will carry on. I will go to the ends of the Earth to keep us safe.”
Speaking to Reduxx, Tracy Shannon, a Texas-based women’s protection and pro-family advocate, called Maya’s situation “heartbreaking,” but adds that it’s not uncommon.
“I have been in contact with a couple hundred women over the years whose husbands cross-dressed or transitioned. Domestic abuse is not uncommon in these situations as these men are often very narcissistic and controlling and they often resent their wives for standing in the way of their ultimate fantasy which is to be like them or, even worse, to be them,” Shannon says.
Shannon is a transwidow — a label adopted by women whose husbands or male partners transitioned. She’s been involved in transwidow advocacy for years, since before there was a name for the phenomenon, and has led a pro-family organization for 4 years.
“It is incredibly hard for a woman to face her abuser. It is that much harder when the state, in its commitment to prioritizing sexual fetishists’ feelings over the basic right of conscience, insists on the use of pronouns that align with the new state-ordained ‘woman,'” Shannon explains, referring to Maya’s assertion that she was told she would have to use “she/her” pronouns to refer to her abuser.
“From a transwidow perspective, this case illustrates the systemic bias that prioritizes the feelings of men with sexual fetishes over the rights of everyone else. In this case, a woman’s right of conscience is being violated as the court would require the witness to address the man she was in a relationship and had a child with as if he were a woman.”
Shannon continues that she believes it is “the height of psychopathy” for a man to feel as though he were absolved of past wrongdoing due to his new gender identity, but that it speaks to a wider issue with self-identification.
“I don’t think any man should be changing his identity, but it should be common sense that it is not in the best interests of women or the public for a man accused felonious domestic abuse to be able to identify as a female which will give him greater access to women’s spaces,” she says.
“As long as governments allow men to legally identify as women all rights are at risk and the safety of women is at risk as well. A man with a history of abuse does not become less abusive by slipping into a dress and taking a cocktail of hormones.”
Reduxx is your source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% independent! Support our mission by joining our Patreon, or consider making a one-time donation.
