Orkopoulos stepson tells:
how he led me astray
JOANNE McCARTHY
Newcastle Morning Herald
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HURT: Brad Heckenberg, stepson of Milton Orkopoulos, at home in Taree. |
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Milton Orkopoulos |
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MILTON Orkopoulos's stepson has broken more than 10 years' silence to reveal how the disgraced MP introduced him to cannabis as a teenager after a brush with police in 1997 that had Orkopoulos joking, "You nearly exposed me."
The double life of the drug-taking sex offender took its greatest toll on children, with his stepson Brad Heckenberg, 25, only feeling confident to speak in public after a jury last week formally recognised Orkopoulos as a criminal.
Mr Heckenberg said he was not molested by Orkopoulos, was not one of his three victims in court and did not give evidence at his trial but he was "really mixed up about how I feel about him, to be honest with you".
"It was like a lot of people put s - - - on me for smoking pot and it messed me up for a lot of years, but they wouldn't listen to anything about Milton even when I said he was smoking it with me, and he was the one who first gave it to me," he said this week.
His statement to police at 14 about a shower block incident during a 1997 family holiday at Seal Rocks was the first official alarm bell that Orkopoulos might have led a double life.
But it had a devastating impact on the confused teenager, who "just shut my mouth and said nothing ever happened" after Orkopoulos explained it away to police and some colleagues as flowing from bad blood between his wife and her former husband, Brad Heckenberg's natural father.
It was only after he returned to live with Orkopoulos and his mother some time later, during a drive alone with Orkopoulos "to sort things out", that the former MP made it plain to Heckenberg that he knew he had things to hide.
"I remember very clearly he said to me, 'You nearly exposed me, Brad', and that's when I first smoked pot, on that drive.
"Milton said he was going to have a smoke and he asked me if I wanted one too. I was 14, so I did.
"I look back on it now and think, he got me onside. Over the years I've smoked a lot of pot with Milton."
Orkopoulos would wait for his wife Mr Heckenberg's mother to leave the house and then "he'd come to me and say 'Your mum's gone out, do you want to smoke some pot?"'
Orkopoulos told one of the three child sex victims who gave evidence at his trial to ask for Brad, not himself, if he wanted to speak to Orkopoulos and his wife answered the phone.
"He told him [the teenage victim] to say 'I'm friends with Brad', when it was really Milton he was calling," Mr Heckenberg said.
He was thrown out of the Orkopoulos home at 16 for cannabis use.
"I was told if it became public that Milton's stepson was smoking pot, it would damage Milton. I was kicked out to protect his political career and he goes and does all that he's done anyway."
Heckenberg is not angry with Orkopoulos. He is confused and hurt and worried about his mother and other family members but when Orkopoulos sent him a text message during the trial, asking him to be in court on the day he gave evidence so he could see a familiar face, Mr Heckenberg made the trip to Newcastle to be there, in part to support another family member.
Mr Heckenberg expected Orkopoulos to be found guilty although it was clear in a text message sent to him only days before the jury found the disgraced MP guilty of 28 child sex and drugs charges, that Orkopoulos expected to walk free.
"You have been hurt and confused and battered by this experience, so have I, but I am also ashamed and embarrassed because I am not guilty of all remaining charges," Orkopoulos said.
"Your mum, whom I've never stopped loving, has been deeply hurt. I want to talk to you but also understand if you want to wait until after the verdict. From Milton."
When Orkopoulos saw the younger man outside Newcastle District Court, he walked to him and tried to embrace him, which bothered Mr Heckenberg.
"He's always been very touchy-feely but I thought, he's going in there for touching boys and we're outside the court and he's trying to give me a big hug and a kiss and I thought, 'No. Don't'," he said.
"Just shake my hand."
But when Mr Heckenberg's partner miscarried in January and he needed someone to drive him to Sydney and back, it was Orkopoulos he turned to.
"The only person I could ring at the time was Milton because I knew he'd help, and he did," he said.
Mr Heckenberg is worried about his mother, who has had to cope with the emotional trauma of the past 18 months and the financial effect of NSW legislation passed after Orkopoulos was charged, which means he will not receive entitlements.
"My mum was a very, very strong woman before Milton came along, but because of what he's done, she's finding things are really difficult."
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