Battered face of girl who killed herself days after attack by lover
A LAW student who was being beaten by her boyfriend took a selfie showing her swollen face days before she killed herself.
Emily Drouet, 18, sent the harrowing image to a friend to document her abuse at the hands of ex-public schoolboy Angus Milligan.
The psychology student would slap her if he thought she had told a lie, encouraged her to sleep around, and bought her bondage restraints.
Miss Drouet, a first-year at the University of Aberdeen, was found dead at her halls of residence in March last year after deciding she was unable to escape from the relationship which was both physically and psychologically abusive.
Last week Milligan admitted assaulting Miss Drouet in the months leading up to her death, threatening her, using abusive language and sending offensive, indecent, obscene and menacing texts.
The 21-year- old, from Edin- burgh, will be sentenced in July. Miss Drouet’s parents Fiona and Germain said the photo of their daughter’s battered face is upsetting, but they released it in the hope of helping other girls trapped in a similar situation.
They want to expose a culture among young people where some consider it normal to sleep with many partners and indulge in violent sex and bullying.
The couple, from Glasgow, say Milligan groomed their daughter into a twisted sexual relationship, controlling her with violence and threats.
Mrs Drouet, 45, said: ‘ Emily was naïve, she was innocent. Within six months that man destroyed her.’
She and her husband, a pilot, have called for a nationwide review of security for young women students.
And they accused the University of Aberdeen of failing to protect their daughter, saying it did not act on evidence that she was being abused.
She bore signs of physical harm by Milligan when she consulted a student resident assistant a week before she killed herself. They suspected she was being abused but did not intervene.
Neither the police nor her parents were contacted and only after their daughter’s death did Mr and Mrs Drouet discover the extent of the physical and mental abuse she was hiding. Professor Margaret Ross, vice principal of the university, said: ‘Emily’s death was a tragedy that we could not have foreseen. Nonetheless we have since carried out a review of our student support procedures.’
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local branch or go to www. samaritans.org.
‘That man destroyed her’