Disclaimer: This story discusses sexual assault and contains explicit and graphic details that may be distressing to some readers
COSMETICS entrepreneur, Nur Sajat, who moved to Australia in 2021 after being granted asylum following alleged persecution by Malaysian authorities over her gender status and other legal issues, has recently shared a story of sexual assault that occurred earlier this year.
Sajat talked about the incident at length in a confessional video she posted on her Facebook earlier today.
The event, which took place at her beauty salon in New South Wales, Australia on February 17, happened when a 187cm tall man of Middle Eastern descent came into her salon and attempted to rape her.
As Sajat was finishing attending to a female customer – her last one of the day – the assailant came into Sajat's salon. He had apparently visited the beauty salon before, and now wanted to get an eyebrow waxing.
However, after Sajat waxed his eyebrows, the man then closed the door of the room and pulled her while telling her that he was interested in her.
"I begged him to stop and told him, 'Please don't do this, this is where I work,' and he replied, 'No one is here, and you've already locked the front door,'" Sajat recalled in the video.
The attacker brazenly told her that he knew there weren’t any CCTV cameras in the salon. Unbeknownst to him, there are indeed cameras that are well hidden.
He choked and slapped Sajat, stunning her into silence.
Sajat got him to stop hurting her by telling him that she would do whatever he wanted.
In her Facebook video, she stressed that she wanted to reassure him because she was afraid that if she fought back, he would take out his anger on her store and business.
"While he was choking me and slapping me, I decided not to fight. Because if I fought, he might have hurt me worse and I might have even been killed," said Sajat, who abruptly stopped telling her story while covering her face and crying.
She has since lodged a police report and sought help from a therapist and the Australian government.
The assailant was arrested by the police after Sajat lodged a report and provided CCTV footage to the authorities.
Mental health professionals and the Australian government are helping her get back to normal by providing compensation and paying for her rental fees for her store.
Sajat said since the attack, her salon has remained shuttered as she has been riddled with anxiety and is still struggling to heal from the mental anguish of the traumatic event.
"I've kept this story to myself because I am on antidepressants. I've said before that I have a story to share, but I didn't. This is actually what happened," she said. – The Vibes, March 15, 2023
