Corinna Horvath spent years feeling as if she was a victim. In 1996, the door of her house in Hastings was kicked in by eight police officers without a warrant, and one of them allegedly punched her in the face, shattering her nose.
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Long after the pain subsided, she couldn't get over it: the injustice of being a 21-year-old woman belted in her home.
Then she moved on: had a family, found a career she loved, forgot about the door and her nose crashing in.
But she never lost hope that one day someone would be charged with her assault.
And on Tuesday, the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission charged Leading Senior Constable David Jenkin with intentionally causing serious injury, recklessly causing serious injury, intentionally causing injury and recklessly causing injury.
"It sort of feels not real," Ms Horvath said, "It just hasn't sunk in yet.
"I was always hoping it was going to happen but knowing it may not."
Ms Horvath was driving with her partner Craig Love in March, 1996, when she was stopped by Senior Constable Stephen Davison and then-senior constable Jenkin, who declared her car to be unroadworthy.
The next day, senior constables Jenkin and Davison went to the couple's home, believing they had ignored the unroadworthy order.
When Ms Horvath ordered them from the house because they did not have a warrant, they called for reinforcements. Six more officers arrived and the door was kicked in.
Ms Horvath was allegedly assaulted by Leading Senior Constable Jenkin and spent five days in hospital.
On Tuesday, she said she no longer felt that the justice system had let her down. But she remained troubled by how long the investigation had taken.
"If the shoe was on the other foot, and I was the one who had allegedly assaulted someone, I would have been arrested, charged, prosecuted, done my time, and been out by now."
The Age reported last November that a review of the case by retired Supreme Court Judge Bernard Teague found that Leading Senior Constable Jenkin should be charged with the assault.
The review was designed to investigate Victoria Police's handling of Ms Horvath's complaint, and the internal inquiry into the officers' actions.
It is unclear whether any of the eight officers involved were disciplined.
Four were defendants in a civil case involving Ms Horvath, but one left the force soon after the incident, and two had disciplinary offences dismissed at a hearing because of a lack of evidence.
Two of the other officers who were defendants in the civil case are understood to also remain in the force.
Justice Teague is believed to have advised IBAC that there appeared to be enough evidence to satisfy the Department of Public Prosecutions that a criminal charge could be sustained, despite the assault occurring two decades ago.
He found that it did not appear that a criminal investigation into Leading Senior Constable Jenkin had been considered, making it difficult to review the force's handling of Ms Horvath's complaint.
In 2014, then-chief commissioner Ken Lay apologised on behalf of all police members to Ms Horvath and paid her compensation.
That apology came four months after the United Nations Human Rights Committee recommended that Victoria Police should reopen the investigation into officers involved in the raid.
Leading Senior Constable Jenkin had most recently been stationed in Myrtleford.
A Victoria Police spokesman said the force was aware of the charges and confirmed that the police member has been transferred to non-operational duties.
Leading Senior Constable Jenkin will face the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on December 19.
Ms Horvath said her whole family plan to be there.
But she is not sure whether she will join them. It is all too much to think about.
"Now I'm just excited, scared and anxious about the whole situation."
