Two female members of Corpus Christi MCR were aggressively pursued on Friday night by a man demanding sex in the latest of a series of similar incidents in East Oxford.
The incident occurred at 2am on Saturday morning when a man pursued students Courtney Cox and Francesca Richards on their way back to college from the Cowley area. The man, described as black and around 5’4 in a grey hoodie and jeans, demanded a threesome, persistently telling them to get into his car, and followed the students right up to Corpus’ Liddell Gate before being deterred when he realised they were phoning the police.
A police statement on Wednesday revealed that there were two further related incidents over the weekend. On Thursday at 4am and Monday at 11pm other women were similarly accosted by men in the Iffley area, this time on Percy Street.
Another Corpus graduate, Katie Musgrave, described the regularity of the dangers women face around Oxford, describing how she has been accosted on several occasions in her time at the University. “One time on Magdalen Bridge a sketchy man passing me by kicked my bag of groceries, splitting it open, and he walked on.
“Another time, when running on the tow path, I was lunged at by an aggressively drunk vagrant who was harassing people as they passed him. Finally, when passing by the bus shelter on Iffley Road one night, I was screamed at by a couple of drunk teenagers who were hiding in there, behind the adverts, apparently for the purpose of scaring people,” she said.
Detective Sergeant Kevin Elkins has called for students to come forward, saying, “We would like to hear from anyone else who has been approached by a man in the area. It may have seemed like a trivial incident at the time, but you could have important information for us.
“Until we trace the man, or men, involved and speak to him about his motives, we would advise local women to take care late at night or very early in the morning.”
Cox seemed shaken by the incident, describing being pursued and harassed as “frightening – not only at the time it happens, but beyond it as well. “Could it happen again? What if he hadn’t gone away when we called the cops? What if he had followed us into the Liddell Complex? […] What if he had a weapon?
“There’s a sense in which your safety has been violated, and you wake up to the reality that your neighbourhood is not as safe as it seemed.”
Beyond this individual example, the most worrying aspect of the incident is its perceived regularity. Asking other Corpus students about their experiences, Cox described how alarmingly common such harassment seems to be, and how a culture of acceptance has emerged.
“The response to this incident has largely been a variation on the theme of ‘Well, I hate to admit it, but you’re not the first’, instead of ‘What can we do to make it safer?’
“It hasn’t happened to me before, but the impression I have is that it does occur fairly frequently, probably more than is on record, since it would appear through conversations with other students that there’s also a problem of under-reporting.
“So yes, I am worried. I don’t feel as though there really are the resources in place to deal with this sort of occurrence.”
Along with urging vigilance, police have repeated their usual safety advice that students walk home with friends or take a licensed taxi if they are alone. Meanwhile, OUSU have urged students to look after one another, using the Safety Bus and attack alarms to keep safe.
OUSU’s Welfare Rep Louise Randall stated, “We recommend that students never walk home alone, that they use the OUSU/PBSU Safety Bus wherever possible, and they should consider carrying an attack alarm, available from your welfare officers or direct from OUSU for £1.60.
“If you’re heading out clubbing this week and need to get home late at night, remember you can use the OUSU/OBSU Safety Bus. This service, provided in conjunction with Oxford Brookes Students’ Union, is there to make sure you get home safely. It will pick you up from any location within the Oxford Ring road and take you home for a donation of only £1. To call the bus, just ring 07714 445 050 between 9pm and 3am Monday – Saturday and 9pm – 1am on Sunday.”
Yet despite this, Cox does not feel secure against further trouble. “Truth be told, Oxford is not a safe city. The safety schemes in place from the University and Colleges are inadequate (and those that do exist inadequately publicised), particularly when compared to other institutions of like calibre. It’s really disappointing.”
For any students who would like to get in touch with the police concerning this, Det Sgt Elkins can be contacted via the Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505. If you don’t want to talk to police and don’t want to leave your name, call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Photo: Olivier Lazarus
