Leeds woman Rhiannon Boardman speaks out after being the victim of sexual assault to raise awareness and 'break the stigma'

Leeds woman Rhiannon Boardman speaks out after being the victim of sexual assault to raise awareness and 'break the stigma'

Transcript

00:00Absolutely, so I'm Rhiannon Boardman. On the 25th of October 2022 I was sexually assaulted by

00:07someone I know. Since then I've been through the police and the court process

00:13and on the 13th of January this year the person who assaulted me was sentenced to prison. The reason

00:19that I've chosen to speak out is to raise awareness of sexual assaults and to break the stigma

00:23surrounding it. I think the weeks and months after sexual assaults can be often overwhelming

00:29for victims or it was for me and filled with a lot of unknown so if sharing my story can help

00:36just one person who's in a similar position to me then it's been worth it. I've had so much

00:42support from the courts and the police over this time which I've been really grateful for

00:48and I feel lucky to be in a position where I'm able to speak about what happened to me.

00:53I've got the opportunity to take what happened and turn it into a positive by hopefully helping

00:59others and encouraging people who have been sexually assaulted to speak about it if that's

01:04what they're comfortable doing. So in October I'll be running Manchester Hearth Marathon as well

01:11and that's in aid of Victim Support who is a charity that helps victims rebuild their lives

01:17after being victim to crime and start navigating after life has changed and they do a lot of

01:23important work so I'm hoping to use my experience to help fund their amazing work.

01:29you