Assault pain lingers while attacker is free
A WOMAN violated on the dance floor of a CBD nightclub has recalled the moment she saw her attacker again on the street.
The woman, known as ‘J’, was sexually assaulted by painter Alex David Bailey at the Woolshed in September last year.
Bailey, a US born UK citizen, currently lives in Townsville.
Still traumatised and plagued by self-doubt, J came across Bailey by chance one month later and her trauma came flooding back.
“I was on my bicycle, riding from the chemist, getting new meds for being bonkers,” she said.
“On my way home I saw him go along Shield St – he was drinking from a bottle with a paper bag, he was drinking, laughing, having a great time and annoying a busker.
“I sat down and cried and broke down in public on the street.
“I didn’t know what to do.” She still blames herself for
Alexander David Bailey not reporting the assault earlier – waiting three weeks before acting and confused by the reactions of those she told.
“I did not know what was true; it felt like ‘nothing happened, it was just dancing, I was being irrational, that kind of stuff happens in clubs’.”
More than 12 months later, J had her day in court when she was able to confront Bailey at his sentencing.
She was crushed when he walked away with probation.
“I broke the f*** down,” J said.
“Everything that people told me would happen did not happen. If I had known, I would not have gone to trial.
“He is still in this country and lives four hours from me.
“I just don’t understand.” For his part, Bailey scrawled a letter of apology to J, which was handed over the day of his sentencing.
J and her supporters listened as the expected suspended sentence was whittled away to a punishment without the threat of and custody time.
“I feel like I was blamed for being sexually assaulted; that it was normal behaviour; there was an implication that I should have coped with it,” she said.
To others who may see vulnerable women as a target, she has some choice words.
“Have some respect – don’t see the person as something to get your jollies off,” J said.
“Think of your mother, your sister.
“Consent is an enthusiastic ‘yes’; no doesn’t mean ‘convince me’.”