This is the first picture of the teenager who sexually assaulted an Oxford University student outside her home.
Ione Wells, 20, prompted an outpouring of public support when she wrote a defiant open letter to her assailant, telling him he would not win.
Today, the undergraduate’s attacker can be revealed as a 17-year-old migrant who is still attending college while awaiting sentencing.
The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was caught when police saw him on CCTV following another woman shortly after attacking Miss Wells. When approached for a comment yesterday, he said: ‘I’m going to call the police on you,’ before running away.
The student, who is out on bail, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and is due to be sentenced next week.
Yesterday, when the student’s uncle was approached for a comment, he said his nephew, who is almost 18, had a right to privacy. Later his smartly dressed father, who works as a minicab driver, refused to comment. The teenager lives with his large Somali family in a council flat in a tower block in Camden, London, which is not far from the crime scene.
The family are believed to have moved to the country from Somalia more than ten years ago.
Yesterday the teenager was seen leaving his home with a relative dressed in a traditional burqa.
Miss Wells is considering facing him in court to have a ‘powerful impact’ on him when he is sentenced on Wednesday.
She revealed yesterday that it took her just 15 minutes to write her inspiring piece entitled A Letter to my Assaulter, which was published in the Oxford student newspaper Cherwell.
‘It came naturally and was a way to order that craze of emotions,’ said Miss Wells, who is reading English at Keble College.
But she said the main reason behind it was to launch a campaign for people ‘who feel afraid to speak’.
She has now helped to launch the #notguilty online campaign to stop victims being blamed when they are sexually assaulted.
Speaking about the days after last month’s attack, she told the London Evening Standard: ‘You keep thinking if only I hadn’t left at that specific time or if only I had come back a different way.
Miss Wells (above), 20, prompted an outpouring of public support when she wrote a defiant open letter to her assailant, telling him he would not win
‘A lot of people feel guilt, shame, or that they will be blamed, when actually the inherent guilt is with the assaulter and not the victim.’
Miss Wells had been returning from visiting friends when she was attacked. Neighbours heard her screams and came out, which made the man run away.
‘We are lucky enough to live in a society which allows people to wear what they want and walk where they want,’ she said.
‘We must do everything we can to make sure people don’t feel they have to live any differently.’
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