Oxford student arrested after ‘sorry for raping you’ text message
A FORMER Oxford doctoral student accused of rape was arrested after he sent his alleged victim an apology by text message a year after the alleged attack, a court heard yesterday.
Sherman Ip, a physicist now enrolled at Warwick University, was charged with raping a young woman in his flat after she reported the message, which read: “I am really sorry for raping you.”
Mr Ip has a master’s degree from University College London and in 2015 moved to Oxford University for the first year of his DPhil.
Standing trial at Southwark Crown Court, he is alleged to have carried out the attack at his student flat in Euston Square, London, in May 2013.
Jurors were told how Mr Ip, 25, attacked the victim on his bed after she visited him at home.
The woman initially decided against reporting the matter to the police, but changed her mind in October 2014 when he contacted her again. The mes- sage, which was shown to the court, read: “I am so sorry for emotionally abusing you and manipulating you to do things you didn’t want to do.
“I am really sorry for raping you. I am really sorry for hurting you. It’s all my fault.”
Prosecuting, David Povall told jurors that Mr Ip, whom he described as “bright and capable”, had forced himself upon the woman after she attempted to avoid his earlier advances.
“They were sitting on the sofa together and as they talked he obviously wasn’t listening to her because he kept trying to grope her and remove her clothes,” he said.
“She stopped him because she wanted to talk and moved over to sit on the bed to put some distance between them. That was unwise because he came over and forced her down on to the bed.
“She started crying during the sex and he obviously noticed that because he asked her if she was all right – but continued in any event.
“She felt frozen as it was happening and she explained she didn’t resist to stop him.”
The court heard that the woman had told her boyfriend four months later, but only felt confident to act when Mr Ip allegedly sent the message.
Mr Ip, of Maidenhead, Berkshire, denies rape.
The trial continues.