School

I was sexually assaulted by a guy who went to the same university as me. I reported it to the university student support service, went through weeks of interviews and investigations where I showed pictures of the injuries I sustained and gave a detailed statement about what happened. He was given a warning, and I never heard from the university service again. I was extremely frustrated; he had violated me, and I had no doubt he would do the same to another girl. This was a guy who was extremely prominent in the university community (he was one of the heads of the main student union) and had a huge social media following. Since the university only gave him a warning, he must’ve felt untouchable. Immediately after finding out the university’s decision, I contacted the police via submitting a report on their website. They immediately contacted me and opened an investigation that same night. I provided a statement, answered their questions, and he was brought in for questioning the following day. Finally, I thought, something was going to happen. They interviewed one of my closest friends (the first person and only person I had told about the assault, aside from the university support service). They asked her questions about how I typically dressed, did I often drink in excess, did I enjoy and frequently go on nights out etc etc… you can see where there is going, right? The night the assault happened, I was completely sober, in bed, in my pyjamas. The guy had been on a night out and was reasonably drink. He had phoned me, pressuring me to let him come over, cajoling and persisting when I expressed my reluctance. Finally, I gave in and allowed to him access my flat. All of this I told the police in my initial interview, but in the subsequent ones, numerous questions seemed to centre around my drinking habits, how many guys did I date, how often I went on nights out. During the interviews, I often remained very matter-of-fact and direct, no letting myself break down. They questioned my friend asking whether I usually displayed so little emotion. They were essentially questioning me on my inability to display an ‘expected’ level of distress. It turned into an investigation into my sincerity as a victim. After 3 weeks of questioning, I was told that a member of the police would be in contact with me with an update on the investigation. Its been over a year since I was told that; I have contacted the department three separate times asking for any form of information, each time I am promised a call-back, and each time I never received one. The guy who assaulted me graduated within a month of the assault, moved cities and continues to plaster himself over social media. I have days where I just want to shout from all social media channels what he did to me, and how dangerous I have absolutely no doubt that he remains to be, but I know that either nobody would care, would think I was grasping for attention, that I was slandering him for my own gain or assume that I been asking for it, or that I had put myself in that situation, and therefore should simply deal with the consequences. It just infuriates me that he, and countless other men, will violate women and then continue to achieve and be believed, whilst the woman is put on trial for WHY SHE LET THIS HAPPEN TO HER.