California winery owner Mark Hanson accused of raping his sister, Hilary McKean

A well-known California winery owner has been accused of raping and sexually assaulting his younger sister over a six-year period when the siblings were young in a lawsuit she filed against him.

Hilary McKean, 60, is suing her brother Mark Hanson, 63, for an alleged history of repeated abuse while the siblings were growing up together in the 1970s.

McKean recently recalled numerous instances where her half-brother – the owner of Bricoleur Vineyards in Sonoma County – allegedly entered her room at night and repeatedly assaulted her during a period when she was between 8 and 14 years after repressing the memories for all those years. , depending on the suit.

California’s statute of limitations allows alleged victims of sexual assault to file suit in court within five years from the date the victim realizes she was abused and has suffered psychological damage.

McKean, who lives in Montana, is seeking unspecified damages for difficulties she faced following the alleged assaults, including developing depression and PTSD.

She is also seeking a jury trial, according to the lawsuit.

She said the alleged abuse began when the family moved to a new house where her and her brother’s bedrooms were close to each other but far away from their parents’ bedroom.

She accused Hanson of a “multifaceted wave of recurring violent sexual abuse and rape” that included unwanted sexual intercourse, penetration, oral sex, forced masturbation and choking as well as foot fetishism. against his will.

The repressed memories returned to McKean in the spring of 2022, according to the suit. She was writing her memoir at the time, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure to maintain your family’s reputation and not talk about these things,”
McKean told the local newspaper. “I don’t really think keeping these secrets is healthy for anyone. It’s not healthy for me, and it’s not healthy in our society. We need to be able to talk about what happened to us.

Hanson denied the allegations and accused his sister of making it all up for money, he told the Chronicle through his attorney.

“Hilary fabricated and invented details for the sole purpose of representing me as realistically as possible.
in a detrimental manner with the aim of extorting a significant amount of money from me,” he said.

Hanson’s attorney could not immediately be reached by The Post.

IIf you have been sexually assaulted and live in New York, you can call 1-800-942-6906 for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live out of state, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline 24/7 at 1-800-656-4673.