Brave woman pens powerful letter to man who tried to rape her in Paris nightclub

Speaking out:Sara Roebuck has penned a powerful letter to a man who tried to rape her
Sara Roebuck/Facebook
Fiona Simpson19 December 2016

A brave young woman has penned a powerful open letter to the man who barricaded her in a room and attempted to rape her in a French nightclub.

Sara Roebuck, from Yorkshire, was subjected to the horrifying 20-minute ordeal during a night out just weeks after she moved to Paris in January.

An unknown attacker forced the 24-year-old Masters student into a stock room at the club, barricaded the door with a fire extinguisher, hurled her onto a sink and attempted to rape her, she told the Standard.

The University of Warwick graduate published the moving open letter on French website Medium following a court hearing at which she was forced to face her unknown attacker.

Describing his “black and piercing look”, she wrote: “You said that while you were throwing me on the sink, spreading my legs and placing yourself between them as I cried and cried, raising my dress well over my chest and revealing the most sensitive parts and more vulnerable person, all you did was touch me once or twice.

“We both know that's wrong (…) it was not you who decided to stop. It was I who managed to defend myself.”

Ms Roebuck went on to explain how she fought off her attacker, who has already spent 10 months in jail.

She added: “Whilst I kicked and screamed and cried, you grabbed and constrained and yanked and hurt every part of me that in no given universe would I have consented you to touch.”

The student, who was undertaking an internship in the city when the attack took place, also addressed the letter to “all men who have tried to abuse, to enjoy her body without consent”.

She described the courage it took to face her attacker in court after being unable to speak about the ordeal for months after it happened.

“My mum tried to talk to me but I couldn’t, I’m usually very open and if I have an issue I would want to talk about it but with this, I found it very difficult.

“I was told I didn’t need to attend the hearing but I needed to do it for closure for me.

“Afterwards, I walked around, a bit lost, and then I went home and I opened my laptop and started writing. It was like after months all my thoughts started to come together and to get it out was cathartic to me,” she added.

The letter read: “At that moment I stood up and spoke on behalf of all the women in the world who have suffered in the hands of men like you.

“I stood up for all the women returning home, the keys clasped in their hands.

“I stood up for all the women whose parents insist that they send a message, after a night out, even aged twenty-four, because they worry about the safety of their daughter because she is a woman and not a man.

“I stood up for all women who see their sexuality pointed at as they pass by a group of men.”

Just hours after posting about her ordeal online, Ms Roebuck was inundated with messages from across the globe.

She said: “I had messages from women in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Europe, all over telling details of what had happened to them.

“There are some that had been raped by their boyfriends and other that had had similar experiences to me.

“It was hard to read, overwhelming.

“But, what really struck me was the messages from men. Some apologised for their actions and others said it had made them realise they needed to rethink their subconsciously sexist views.”

The letter revealed the attacker would spend “a portion of his adult life in jail”.

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