UK: White Student Sends Message to Olive-Skinned Attacker Who Punched Her Face In

Oxford Mail
March 27, 2014

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Jeanne Marie Ryan’s selfie.

NURSING a swollen face after being battered by a man at a nightclub, Jeanne Marie Ryan has copied the online charity trend for posting ‘selfie’ images without make-up to make a stand against violence.

The 29-year-old Oxford University student was punched in the face up to seven times after rejecting a man who had sexually assaulted her in an Oxford, nightclub on Friday night.

She was left with a broken nose and fractured cheekbone but decided to follow in the steps of celebrities and ordinary women who for the past week have been posting pictures of themselves without make-up under the hashtag #nomakeupselfie to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Last night the Just Giving page Miss Ryan set up had raised more than £3,300 from 480 donations for the Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis centre and she was being hailed online for being an inspiration. The DPhil student in Education at St Edmund Hall said she was punched seven times and assaulted at 2am on Saturday after a man groped her on the dancefloor at the Plush Lounge in Park End Street.

She said: “I was really, really mad.

“I thought I just needed to do something about this.

“My friends know that I would not let something like this happen without saying something.

“I wanted to help women who go through this sort of thing. I get very angry with guys like this.”

On her Just Giving page, she added: “I am sorry cancer research, but my #nomakeupselfie is for a different cause. I’m trying to channel my rage into something constructive, so I’m raising money for the Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre.

Recalling the attack, she said: “I told him off, saying it is not okay to touch a woman like that.

“I honestly think that he did it to start something. He was telling me to smile, but he didn’t get his way with me.

“He was expecting me to back down and cry and when I didn’t, he just got more and more angry.”

The student was then punched outside the club, causing her to trip down some steps.

She said: “I was hoping that someone would pull him off of me. But when I stood back up, he hit me another four or five times.

“I think he knew what he was doing and really wanted to break everything. He was about to punch me in the nose, when he said ‘I’m going to f*** you up.’ And then he broke my nose.”

Her attacker is described as being about 5ft 7in tall with olive skin and dark hair.

Designated investigator Nhlalo Skosana from Oxford CID said: “This incident took place in the dancefloor and so people would have seen the female being attacked.

“We are doing everything to catch this offender and so I urge anyone with information to contact us immediately.”

A spokeswoman from Oxford Sexual Abuse and Rape Crisis Centre said: “OSARCC supports any woman or girl from across Oxfordshire who has experienced any form of sexual violence at any time in her life, including sexual assault, abuse and rape. We work with over 350 women and girls every year and also support the friends, family and professional supporters of survivors.”

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Miss Ryan’s ‘Just Giving’ page.