‘Rape is a real thing and so is the way I was treated after’

Third year student.

‘So, I was out with my friends in first year and the next morning I woke up in bed naked with a stranger and I had a black eye, bruises all over my body.

My drink had been spiked and I had been raped vaginally, orally and forcefully.

The stranger turned out to be another student at the university, in my year, in my faculty.

I reported it to the police and the university.

He couldn’t explain the bruises and the black eye, but there wasn’t enough evidence to continue so they dropped the case.

The university sent me a letter regarding the ‘serious allegations’ I’d made against another student. It made me feel like I was the criminal.

For example, it’s me who has to check whether I share an exam hall with him and if I do I have to explain, normally to a new member of staff, what happened so that they change the room for me. I had to change gyms, I’ve never been on the university ski trip.

Rape is revolting and so was the way I was treated after. Something really needs to change.’