Sexual Assault Story

On average in the United States 321,500 people experience sexual assault or rape each year.  Women between the ages 12-34 have a higher risk of any other age to be sexually assaulted, this meaning that girls at the age of 12 have a higher risk of experiencing assault before they even are aware of what it is that means.

On November 17, 2018 Junior Phoebe Buffay* experienced sexual assault at a small get together of high school students. Senior Nestor Ozuna-Christanos was put into custody for suspected sexual assault against Buffay, in the first degree.

“We were just planning on getting a bottle,” Buffay said. Buffay and one of her junior friends bought alcohol from a friend.

After they purchased the alcohol, Buffay was asked by Ozuna-Christanos and another senior if they could join. Buffay said yes, and they all went to Ozuna-Christanos house.

Ozuna-Christanos had not consumed any alcohol that night, but everyone else did .  That night Ozuna-Christanos assaulted Buffay.

The next morning everyone woke up at Ozuna-Christanos’ house. Buffay wanted to leave right away, but everyone else didn’t.

“I wanted to go home but they all wanted to smoke,” Buffay said. The group then smoked marijuana and then Buffay drove everyone home.

She told her friend junior Faith Stryker, over text, everything that happened, and Stryker insisted on picking her up. Stryker picked Buffay up and drove her to the hospital.

“I started to freak out a little bit mentally,” Buffay said. She was nervous about going to the hospital because she had no idea what was going to happen.

When she was omitted to the hospital the first person to talk to her was a nurse. When they started to ask medical questions Buffay decided to call her mom.

“She gave me like a bunch of pills, a shot, took my blood and gave me a rape kit … that wasn’t fun, Buffay said. She described the experience and process as uncomfortable and long. She talked to doctors, nurses, and a police officer.

The police and her personal both told her to keep quiet so they could do an investigation. They also asked for all the people she told about the assault.

Buffay suffered mentally from this situation. At first, she describes it as not clicking. Once her friends and Ozuna-Christanos being question, she started to accept what happened. She started only going to school a few days in the week.

“When he ended up admitting it, that was the day it all came together for me,” Buffay said. After that Buffay describes it as entering an all-time low. She stopped going to school all together for a while.

High school students all over the world are susceptible to experiencing sexual assault. 50 percent of reported sexual assaults involve some form of alcohol. If a high school student experiences sexual assault they should tell a trusted adult or school official right away. Students should be safe at parties and stay away from alcohol and drugs.

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