At 21, Jaylene Hong was allegedly raped by a former colleague when she was drunk.
Having blacked out during the assault which occurred in her own home, this Singaporean said she couldn’t remember a huge piece of that night.
“I woke up feeling pain in the female [region],” she recounted to AsiaOne. “I called the attacker and all he could say was he loves me. I couldn’t process the information.”
Traumatised and confused, Hong, a virgin then, ran away from home for months, seeking refuge in relatives’ and friends’ houses. This attack took place in 2012.
“I couldn’t stand my house [where the attack took place],” she said. “Every single night after that, I’ll wake up screaming.”
She wasn’t close to her family members – her father and two brothers – then. Her father was separated from her mother.
“A lot of people don’t know what to do, myself included. [They] don’t dare to speak up [as] they don’t know what will happen to the attacker and the victim… That’s what’s stopping victims, they just want to avoid the issue,” said Hong. “I didn’t know what rights I had… Not calling the police [then] has been my regret.”