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'I refuse to be defined by this': Woman's open letter to sex attacker

A woman who was brutally assaulted by a man inside a nightclub in Paris has written a powerful open letter to the man who tried to rape her.

Sara Roebuck moved to France for a six-month internship and had only spent three weeks in the city when her attacker trapped her in a room and used a fire extinguisher to block the door.

In the confronting letter, the university student detailed how he threw her against a wall, attempted to take her clothes off and pinned her down as he tried to rape her.

Ms Roebuck was assaulted by a man in a Paris nightclub last year. Photo: Supplied
Ms Roebuck was assaulted by a man in a Paris nightclub last year. Photo: Supplied

Almost one year after the attack, Ms Roebuck penned the 4,000-word letter after seeing her the offender again in court.

“I write to you because this afternoon we met again, only the surroundings were not quite the same,” she wrote.

“Your hands were cuffed behind your back, not sweatily gripped around my body. Your eyes were on the floor, not greedily inches away from my face.

"We were in the same room, only this time it was my choice and not yours. This time, you didn’t succeed in blocking the door with a fire extinguisher and keeping me against my will.”

Ms Roebuck described the immense torment she felt in the courtroom as she watched the man recount his version of the story.

“You said that what you did lasted a few minutes, not that you locked me in a room for twenty minutes whilst you tried to take off my clothes, whilst you launched my body onto a sink, whilst you tried to rape me.

The university student penned the 4,000-word letter as a way of coming to terms with her emotions. Photo: Supplied
The university student penned the 4,000-word letter as a way of coming to terms with her emotions. Photo: Supplied

“You said that you were on top of me on the floor because I dropped my drink and slipped, not because, after I managed to push you out from in between my legs, you twisted my body and pushed me onto the floor, pinning me and holding me down with the weight of yours.”

She wrote that the man tried to convince the three judges in the courtroom that he was “lost in translation” through a language barrier, even though Ms Roebuck speaks fluent French.

After pulling up her dress and violently assaulting her, the only thing that stopped him from raping her was that she was menstruating, she said.

The politics and economics masters student said she published the letter as a way of dealing with her own grief and also as a call for change in society.

Ms Roebuck has received hundreds of messages of support after publishing her letter online. Photo: Supplied
Ms Roebuck has received hundreds of messages of support after publishing her letter online. Photo: Supplied

In the courtroom, the judges asked Ms Roebuck if she had anything to say and immediately she took the chance to personally address her attacker.

"At that moment, I stood and spoke for every woman in the world who has suffered at the hands of men like you. I stood for every woman walks home with her keys clasped between her fingers.

"I stood for every woman who has switched train carriages because of that one man who isn’t breaking eye contact.

“I stood for every woman who has been groped, harassed, attacked, raped, filmed, photographed, followed, touched against her consent, suffered verbal vulgarities, obscene regards, disgusting gestures, and worst of all, within a society that allows it, in some cases with other women who refuel the blame, and men around her who are supposed to be progressive and modern, but stay silent.”

The letter has created a social media storm, with hundreds of readers contacting Ms Roebuck with words of encouragement, empathy and support.

“I don’t know you but I greatly admire what you did!” one man wrote. “Thank you for your strength.”

“One of the most inspirational things I have ever read,” a woman said.

“This gave me vomit-inducing levels of anxiety but I am so proud of you for doing what I couldn't. It's a lonely, horrible, f***d up 'club' to be a part of but people like you give us all strength,” another reader commented.

Read the full letter here.