In a powerful new statement, the 23-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted by former Stanford student Brock Turner explains why she’s choosing to remain anonymous — for now.
In a message that the prosecutor gave to San Francisco’s KTVU Fox 2, the woman explains that by remaining anonymous, she’s making a statement.
"I remain anonymous, yes to protect my identity. But it is also a statement that all of these people are fighting for someone they don't know. That's the beauty of it," her message read. "I don't need labels, categories, to prove I am worthy of respect, to prove that I should be listened to. I am coming out to you as simply a woman wanting to be heard. Yes, there is plenty more I'd like to tell you about me. For now, I am every woman."
Turner — who was facing up to 10 years in prison for his charges — was convicted of three felony counts of sexual assault. Judge Aaron Persky sentenced him to just six months in jail on June 2. The former student, who was a star swimmer at the university, is currently serving his sentence in protective custody at Santa Clara County Jail in California.
As previously reported, the controversial case gained worldwide attention after the victim’s emotional letter to her attacker went viral. In her address to Turner, which she read in court the day of his sentencing, she recalled what it felt like to learn she’d been sexually assaulted.
“My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me,” she wrote. “You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice … My independence, natural joy, gentleness, and steady lifestyle I had been enjoying became distorted beyond recognition. I became closed off, angry, self deprecating, tired, irritable, empty. The isolation at times was unbearable. You cannot give me back the life I had before that night.”
Turner blamed the college “party culture” for his crime. “I made a mistake, I drank too much, and my decisions hurt someone,” he wrote in his own statement to the judge.
