Sportsmen are accused of gang rape at university: Four students are alleged to have assaulted 19-year-old fellow undergraduate
- Four student sportsmen have been accused of gang-raping an undergraduate
- A woman, 19, claims the international students at Oxford Brookes attacked her
- She says the attack occurred when she collected headphones from their house
- Oxford Brookes expelled three of four students after an internal investigation
Four student sportsmen have been accused of gang-raping a fellow undergraduate.
The 19-year-old woman claims the international students at Oxford Brookes attacked her when she went to collect a pair of headphones from their house.
It is understood one of the accused was admitted to the university while under investigation in the United States over two allegations of rape by a female student.
Oxford Brookes, which is a centre for elite sport, expelled three of the four students after an internal investigation.
A 19-year-old woman claims four international students at Oxford Brookes (university is pictured) gang-raped her when she went to collect a pair of headphones from their house
One of these later had his punishment reduced to a term's suspension on appeal and was told to write a letter of apology to the alleged victim. A fourth was given a written warning.
The alleged victim said she had laughed off the subject of group sex when it was first raised by the men.
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But when she returned to the room they were in she found furniture had been moved and bottles of alcohol produced.
'Suddenly the mood changed and it became less of a joke,' she told The Times. 'Rather, it was 'You've said this, you're all talk, you owe us, you promised this to us'.
'I just kept saying 'I said that a week ago, I don't owe you anything'. They were like 'No, you owe us group sex, you've agreed to it, we have the proof'.'
An investigation by Thames Valley Police was dropped without charges brought. Police said there was ambiguity over consent as the woman agreed to take part in some sexual activity
The student tried to kill herself after the alleged attack, the newspaper reported. She took an overdose and spent seven weeks in a psychiatric hospital.
The men claim the woman had consented to group sex in earlier text messages and said she instigated the sexual activity.
An investigation by Thames Valley Police was dropped without charges being brought.
Police concluded there was ambiguity over consent because the woman agreed to take part in some sexual activity before and after the alleged rape.
An investigation by the Oxford Brookes misconduct committee upheld the alleged victim's complaint that there had been a breach of university regulations by three of the four athletes by relying on 'balance of probability' as a burden of proof.
It added the students 'had not taken appropriate care to establish that consent was present throughout the entire evening and this constitutes abuse'.
Oxford Brookes (pictured) expelled three students after an investigation. One's punishment was later reduced to a term's suspension on appeal and a fourth was given a written warning
The university inquiry does not imply any criminal behaviour.
A spokesman said: 'Sexual violence and harassment has no place at Oxford Brookes.
'We can confirm that in February 2018, the university received allegations relating to sexual violence involving a number of our students.
'These allegations were thoroughly investigated in accordance with the university's processes, appropriate liaison with the police took place and our internal conduct procedures were completed.
'Appropriate penalties, including the most severe penalties available to the university in relation to some of the students, were applied and were upheld on appeal.
'We recognise the very distressing nature of the allegations.'
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