Gabrielle Walsh, 18, a teenager from the UK, claims to have been the victim of an assault by a group of people who were previously following her around and making sexual advances towards her.
According to Walsh, at some point, she had had enough of the harassment and told the men that she was not interested.
She was walking around with a male friend, Kyle McKeown, at the time, coming home from a night out clubbing in Manchester.
She told the Manchester Evening News: “I’d taken my shoes off, and this guy came over and said, ‘I like your feet.’ I just said, ‘OK,’ and we tried to walk away. They kept walking behind, trying to talk to me. Eventually, I turned around and said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not interested.”
After the alleged leader of the group mocked her friend, things went from bad to worse, the young woman shared: “Then he hit me — he fully knocked me out. When I woke up, I was on the floor, and the three of them had jumped on Kyle as well. His glasses were gone — he’s got cuts and bruises.”
The men then proceeded to punch her unconscious. After she woke up, she saw them attacking her friend as well.
Walsh and her pal were rescued by Village Angels, a group that offers protection to the LGBTQ community in the area.
The girl was then told that she would have to wait up to two hours to get an ambulance, so she opted to get a taxi to the nearest hospital instead.
Walsh claims that she did not receive proper treatment at the hospital either, as doctors basically brusher her off, gave her some eye drops, and sent her home.
She has since developed a blood clot in the eye and is unable to see out of it.
The girl also reports that the attack has left her mentally scarred, and she is currently afraid to go out on her own and do anything out of town. It is not clear if the attack had had the same effect on her friend as well.
Moreover, the incident has bigger implications when it comes to how girls are treated in some areas.
Walsh explained: “I’m not a rude person, I just said, ‘Sorry, I’m not interested,’ I think it was a jealousy, ego thing because I rejected him in front of his friends. Girls feel like they can’t say ‘no.’ They feel like if they say ‘no,’ then they might hurt you, and in this case, it was true.”
Many have spoken out against the incident, and authorities are reportedly trying to identify the perpetrators.
However, so far, the investigation has turned up no leads. It is not known if the police have any serious clues regarding the identities of the suspects.
