H.E.A.T. (Hal Jordan Emerald Advancement Team)

If you have sexually assaulted a woman or a girl, don’t assume that the passing of years makes you any safer from accountability. You can be found guilty at any age. Time doesn’t erase a crime, diminish its seriousness or remove a victim’s right to justice. I was 12 when I was first propositioned by a grown man old enough to be my father. I was 14 the second time. At 17, a male friend, a couple of years older than me, walked me home. We’d actually previously worked together in the kitchen of our local pub and got along really well. I genuinely liked him and hoped we might become boyfriend and girlfriend. Once inside my home, he turned into a monster. He completely overpowered me and began grabbing and pulling at my clothes, trying to remove them. I have absolutely no doubt he would have raped me had my mother not arrived home at the exact moment he’d unzipped his pants and I could feel him against me. For the avoidance of doubt, I never stopped shouting NO and STOP, even between sobs of shock whilst trying to push him off me. I didn’t even budge him. I saw him frequently afterwards. We lived in the same small village and had mutual friends, but I never spoke to him again. I blamed myself for accepting his offer to walk me home. For years afterwards, I saw that seemingly innocent offer as a euphemism for a demand or expectation of sex. Every female friend in my life has been affected by a man, or men, who knew exactly what consent meant but believed it didn’t apply to them. Let Russell Brand’s conviction serve as a reminder - nobody is above the law. Not celebrity, not wealth, not status and certainly not the passage of time. Your victim doesn’t get to forget. Neither should you get to assume you’ve escaped accountability.