Picture posed by model
The first time Abbi Lawther was sexually assaulted, she was sitting on the kerb outside a nightclub, surrounded by friends.
Though she had never met her attacker Simon Cash before that evening in December 2018, they had been invited to the same birthday celebration and he had shadowed her constantly. ‘Anywhere I was, he seemed to appear,’ says Abbi, a beauty therapist, now 22. ‘He was big, scruffy, quite quiet – but he just gave off a weird vibe. One person that night had told me she’d known him all her life and wouldn’t walk on the same side of the road as that guy. You don’t want to hurt anyone, but it had got to the point where I was actively trying to avoid him.’
A sex assault survivor has told of her shock to see her attacker working behind the till at Tesco following his release from jail.
Abbi Lawther, 22, from County Down, Northern Ireland, spotted Simon Cash earlier this month at her local store.
Cash was released from HMP Maghaberry towards the end of last year after being handed an 18-month sentence, serving nine months and the rest on licence.
The ex-nursing student was convicted of two sexual assaults against the beautician in 2018 and managed to get a job at the supermarket giant after his release from jail.
Abbi Lawther (pictured above), 22, from County Down, Northern Ireland, spotted Simon Cash earlier this month at her local Tesco store
Young woman who survived taxi sex attack waives anonymity to help other victims
Abbi Lawther was 21 when she was attacked by Simon Cash on a Christmas night out in 2018, and suffered suicidal thoughts before coming forward with her harrowing story
Brave Abbi Lawther is speaking out about her trauma to inspire other women to come forward (Image: Belfast Live)
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