Mark Hanson, Bricoleur Vineyards owner, is accused of raping and abusing his younger sister over six

Release time：2024-05-18 00:37:32 Source：Stellar Signals news portal

The owner of a Northern California winery has been accused of sexual assault by his younger sister.

Mark Hanson, 63, who runs the high-end Bricoleur Vineyards in Sonoma County, is accused of rape and incest over a period of six years in the 1970s by Hilary McKean - his younger sister, when they were both still children - claims the accused strenuously denies and says are an attempt to extort him. 

McKean, 60, who is now a trauma counsellor and lives in Montana has detailed the alleged abuse in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco County Superior Court in which she details examples of assault, choking and forced masturbation.

She claims her brother also displayed 'odd behavior' including 'touching her feet with his hands and penis, and sucking on her toes against her will'. 

The lawsuit was originally filed in March but Hanson's name remained sealed until last month when a judge ruled he could be freely named as a defendant.

Mark Hanson, 63, has been accused of sexual assault by his younger sister Hilary McKean, 60

McKean, 60, alleges the assaults occurred for six years during their childhood in the 1970s

Hanson owns Bricoleur Vineyards with his wife, Elizabeth, and their daughter, Sarah Hanson Citron. 

His sister, McKean, alleges the abuse began in 1971 when she was just eight years old. The family had moved into a new home where her bedroom and that of her brother's were set apart from their parents and younger sister.

Although the 'public-facing relationship' with her brother appeared normal with the pair playing together, riding bikes and building forts with other kids in the neighborhood, it was inside the family home McKean alleges the trauma occurred. 

McKean claims Hanson would enter her room at night and abuse her over a period of six years, until she was 14-years-old and he was 17.

Bricoleur Vineyards is a small, family-owned winery in Sonoma County in Northern California

Bricoleur is set on 39 acres complete with olive groves, rose gardens, ponds, bocce courts, peach and nectarine trees, even a pumpkin patch

McKean and Hanson are half-siblings and share a biological mother. 

In the lawsuit, McKean alleges she repressed her memories of the assaults, but that they left lingering psychological and physical scars leaving her with severe anxiety, depression, nightmares and 'tissue, muscle and organ damage and bruising.'

The suit includes detailed claims, alleging Hanson raped, performed oral sex, forced her to masturbate and choked his sister.

She says what began as alleged physical abuse turned into 'domination and control and violence mixed up with sexuality,' according to the lawsuit. 

McKean says she repressed all memories of the assaults which surfaced again in 2022.

She is bringing the lawsuit under California laws which allow sexual assault victims to take legal action within five years of the time they realize harm was inflicted upon them.

Hanson is  a prominent member of the business community and well known in the area

McKean alleges her brother operated 'with malice, oppression and fraud. His conduct was despicable and was done with a willful, knowing and conscious disregard of the rights and safety of his sister,' the suit states.

'He intentionally concealed his malicious and oppressive conduct and threatened his sister. She was afraid he would kill her. His conduct was so vile, base and contemptible that it would be looked down on and despised by reasonable people,' the lawsuit reads.

McKean told the San Francisco Chronicle: 'I think there's a lot of pressure to preserve your family reputation and not talk about these things.

'I don't really think that holding on to these secrets is healthy for anyone. It's not healthy for me, and it's not healthy inside our society. We have to be able to talk about what happened to us.'

She alleges: 'I was just terrified every night wishing that he wouldn't come into my bedroom.'

McKean claims the abuse only stopped once Hanson was in his senior year of high school and began dating a girl before ultimately leaving the family home to study at Santa Clara University.

'I changed a lot once I was set free,' she told the Chronicle. 

During the intervening years, McKean worked in PR, married, had two children and later divorced. 

She was 'superficially friendly' with her brother but claims the memories suddenly came flooding back in the spring of 2022.

Prominent California winery owner is accused of raping and abusing his younger sister over six-year period when they were children and teenagers 

'It was like a door opened and they came pouring out of a closet where they had been locked up,' she claims. 

'All the things I never let myself feel from early childhood … All those feelings came back and they just multiplied by the years I never let myself feel those things. It took me a while to work through that. I'm still on a healing journey.'

California law allows the victims of sexual assault victims five years to take legal action with the clock only starting beginning 'once the survivor understands what happened and understands and feels harmed by the behavior.'

McKean is seeking unspecified civil damages, citing symptoms including PTSD, depression, flashbacks, anxiety and a loss of self-esteem.

By coming forward, she claims she aims to seek justice for her younger self and hopes coming forward might help others deal with repressed trauma.

'In any way that me speaking my truth even makes one little girl or one woman who's hiding repressed memories come forward and speak, then together we change the system, because I think there's tremendous pressure on women to not talk about these things,' she said.

'I feel like we should be able to say what happened to us. That it should be allowed. And for some reason it doesn't feel that way.'

Her brother, Hanson, has denied the allegations saying they are 'invented memories'.

'Hilary has fabricated and invented details with the sole intention of portraying me in the most damaging way in an attempt to extort significant money from me,' he said in a statement.

'While my daughter concentrates on defeating cancer, I am also occupied running our joint family business in her absence. This speaks directly to my sister's lack of character, compassion, and her motivation for money.

'It is hard to believe that an individual who led such a long and successful professional career as my sister Hilary, who frequently spoke about female empowerment, would have kept events of the magnitude of these allegations suppressed for five decades.

'Conveniently, these invented "memories" have "surfaced" to take advantage of the state's statute of limitations,' Hanson said, describing his sister as someone who pursued 'unconventional' therapies for ongoing mental health issues, mocking her self-portrayal as a spiritual healer and clairvoyant. 

His sister, McKean, alleges how the abuse began in 1971 when she was just eight- years-old. The family had moved into a new home where her bedroom and that of her brother's were set apart from their parents and younger sister

On her own website, McKean describes herself as 'an experienced intuitive coach, master Life Force Energy Healer and levels of the aura reader'.

'I understand the pain of being locked into lies. I know how hard it is to step forward and be seen, when you’ve been programmed to make everything look perfect, to fit in, to be just like everyone else,' she writes in her online bio. 

Referring to his sister's website, Hanon said: 'Perhaps she invented her false allegations in that aura, but that is all they are: fabricated claims with no basis in fact.

'The allegations are false and painful to me and to my family. I am confident they will not survive in the courtroom. I will not allow her falsehoods to tarnish my good name and our family reputation.'

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