gair rhydd y Monday February 9th 2015 | freeword | Issue 1043
In this week’s issue: Immigration rights activist Carlos Saavedra’s visit to the university, an interview with EFF director Jillian C. York, an introduction to Syriza, and the scale of students’ union food waste
Two students attacked in Cathays
t Both were on their way home from the Students’ Union on the same night t Police make arrests following reports of harassment and physical assault EXCLUSIVE Georgia Hamer
T
wo men have been arrested in connection with assaults on the streets of Cathays. Last week two separate incidents were reported in the early hours of Sunday morning involving Cardiff University students who were walking home alone from the Students’ Union after club night ‘Flux’. One student was assaulted and another harassed by a man trying to force entry to her house. In the first incident, a student, who did not wish to be named, was attacked on Brithdir Street while walking home after a shift in Y Plas. Recalling the event she said: “I was
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walking back on my own and I made eye contact with a guy who then started following me. “I rang my brother and spoke to him on the phone in Welsh as I thought the guy following me wouldn’t understand. “As I got on to my road the guy attacked me from behind and I screamed extremely loudly but was hit.” The student was grabbed and assaulted before managing to escape her attacker and find her brother. The two of them then walked to her house on Brithdir Street where they rang the police.
A witness had also alerted the authorities and a suspect matching both the witness and the victim’s description was identified shortly after the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday 1st February. The victim commended the efforts of the police, adding: “I went to the station and gave a statement and the police were amazing despite the fact they had been bombarded with cases that night and they had to spill some cases to the Merthyr branch.” South Wales Police were able to confirm that the man in question, Alex Joni, has since been charged with harassment and assault.
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The 19 year old from the Newport area has been remanded in custody and will appear before Cardiff Magistrates on 19th February. In a separate incident on 1st February, a female student reported walking from the Students’ Union to Woodville Fishbar where she left her flatmates to walk home. She said: “As I turned the corner I saw a young man talking to a couple of lads and thought nothing of it until he began following me at an uncomfortably close distance.” As she approached her front door on May Street the man proceeded to overtake her and turn towards her.
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Pictured:
Cardiff Students’ Union by dark (Photographer: Greg McChesney)
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