WESTERN BUREAU - A female student was raped on the compound of the AZ Preston Hall at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus on Wednesday, leaving others fearing for their safety at the institution.

The student had gone to the laundry room on the hall at about 6:00 am when the incident occurred, the Observer was told. The precise details of the incident were, however, unclear up to yesterday as the Mona police, who are investigating the matter, refused to speak about it.

"Naturally, it frightens us because we are on hall and hoping, expecting they will provide proper security, and we are not getting it," said one female foreign student who lives on Preston.

Her views were echoed by a male student, also a resident on Preston, who said he knew the victim.

"No one is to be blamed except security," he said on condition of anonymity, adding that it was now up to students to secure themselves.

"The chances of it happening again can be reduced if students, residents observe the basic principles of personal security," the male student said. "At the time, she was alone."
President of the UWI Guild of Students, Damion Crawford said in the interim that the incident had served to further their case for improved security on the campus.

"We have discussed it over and over with the administration," Crawford told the Observer. "We have told them over and over that we are not happy with the level of security on the campus, and it is the same. Now, we are demanding action."

He could not, however, shed any light on Wednesday's incident, saying he had yet to speak to the young woman.
"I haven't had a chance to speak to her because she was doing the necessary things... I am now speaking to some of the members of the hall committee and trying to find out what happened," he said.

UWI's director of public relations, Carol Edwards, said in the interim that the institution was doing all within its power to attend to the needs of the young woman involved.

"The university is providing all the support it can. The health centre has been fully involved. The person will be provided with medical attention, (and) with counselling by the university counselling service," Edwards said. "The hall itself is very supportive in terms of assisting the person to deal with the situation. All of those things have been done, are being done."

On the issue of student security on campus, Edwards said that a range of steps had been taken, however it was too early to say whether there was a need to beef up security in response to Wednesday's incident.

"What we have to determine first of all is what happened, and those investigations are being conducted," Edwards said.
"How it happened, where it happened, was it that somebody came on the hall? We have to determine all of these things. We know in fact that there is security at the hall. People are posted at the different entrances. You have the razor wires. A lot of measures have been put in place to increase the security at the hall. So we just have to assess that now to see if there was in fact a breakdown, and if there was, to see what can be done to increase the security."

Edwards also said students needed to recognise their own responsibility in safeguarding their security.

"We have developed certain guidelines for the students. At the beginning of each year, there is a presentation on security measures that are in place, things that the students themselves need to do," Edwards said. "They are given that kind of information routinely. You can put all kinds of measures in place, but people, too, have to take responsibility for themselves. We all have to take responsibility for ourselves in addition to making sure that the proper measures are in place."

The fear factor

Feeding the multitude

DANGEROUS PETS