Note: NewsChannel 3 is not releasing Nora's last name in an effort to protect the victim.
A voice. That's what Nora is giving her six-year-old little girl.
"I have to be her advocate because nobody else is going to be for her. To know that someone I entrusted with her did that just hurts my soul," she told NewsChannel 3.
That pain comes from Nora's ex-boyfriend. Court documents say Manuel Canales sexually assaulted her daughter starting when she was just four years old, and it lasted for nearly two years.
"You betrayed not just me, my daughter. I am not really concerned about me, I was concerned about her. You betrayed her," Nora says.
Nora tells NewsChannel 3 she has always told her daughter to come forward if anyone ever touched her inappropriately. That's exactly what she did, according to Nora. She says her daughter told her that the man they both loved had been sexually abusing her.
And not once did Nora ever doubt her.
"When she told me that, I said, I believe my baby. That's what I believe. I believe my baby because I have to be her advocate. I have to be the person to speak for her. She trusts me and depends on me," she said.
The assaults happened when Canales used to babysit the little girl, according to Nora. Now, he's in jail facing felony charges.
"I just still can't believe it was just somebody I trusted. Like she loved him. We loved him. He was a father figure to her. It just hurt."
While Nora says she's the voice for her daughter, it's the little girl who is the one saving her mom.
"You would never know that she's been through what she's been through because she's a strong little baby. I love you and you have been strong for both of us. Stay strong because you make mommy strong," she said.
