"You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today." So says the rape survivor in the case of Brock Allen Turner, 20, a former Stanford University swimmer sentenced Thursday to 6 months in county jail, probation, and registration as a sex offender—far short of the 10-year prison sentence he could have faced, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The survivor, now 23, was drunk and unconscious when Turner assaulted her behind a dumpster after meeting her at a campus party. The judge said a longer sentence would have "a severe impact" on the champion swimmer, but in her powerful court statement, the survivor criticizes the sentencing and describes the impact that night had on her.
"I tried to push it out of my mind, but it was so heavy I didn’t talk, I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t interact with anyone," she says, per Buzzfeed. "After work, I would drive to a secluded place to scream." She describes not only the horrifying details of that night—like waking up on a hospital gurney, with genital abrasions and dirt inside her, not knowing what had happened—but the pain of learning that because she couldn't remember, she couldn't deny consent. For his part, Turner only apologized for drinking too much and never described his actions as sexual assault. "Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence," she says. "He has been found guilty of three serious felonies and it is time for him to accept the consequences of his actions. He will not be quietly excused." Read her full letter at Buzzfeed. (More rape stories.)
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