TWO Swansea University students have been praised for intervening in an assault on an 18-year-old female student on Wind Street.
Swansea Magistrates Court heard how the victim had been out with friends during the early hours of November 13 last year and decided to make her way home alone, whilst heavily under the influence of alcohol. Andrew Smith, for the prosecution, said the complainant only had a vague recollection of what happened after she left Jack Murphy’s bar.
Law student Danny Clissold, 23, described what happened that night: “Well I saw her when I was outside Revs, she was really drunk and alone, so I kept an eye on her, then I saw a guy start to talk to her and thought she’d found a friend. But I heard her say ‘no I want to go home’ so I looked again, and saw the man leading her down an alley way, not aggressively but she was too drunk to get away.
“I saw that the other lad (Jac Weekley) saw what happened too, and asked if he thought it looked dodgy, he said yeah it did, so we decided to check. As we walked after them down the alley I asked if she was okay, the man answered yes she’s fine, I said ‘I wasn’t asking you’. The girl then seemed to mouth ‘help me’, at which point me and the other guy told her to come with us. We lied to the man, saying we knew her from the university, so that he would let her go.”
CCTV showed how 28-year-old Mohammed Rofiq-Ul Alam, of Monmouth, first blocked the woman from leaving using his arm, but then decided to let her go. The two students escorted her to door staff of Revolution, who radioed for police.
The chairwoman of the bench, Jan Langton, had nothing but praise for the students, saying: “What you did that night was very brave – thank you for going to help.”
Alam, a restaurant manager, admitted guilt to one count of common assault at Swansea Magistrates’ Court.
His solicitor, Steve Harrett said the only motivation of the accused was to help the woman find a taxi. Sentencing was adjourned for reports.
Danny’s advice to students on a night out is to “keep your friends close when you’ve had too much [drink], make sure you don’t end up alone and incapable of finding a way home.”
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