The safety of international students is always a question and over the years many international students have had their safety jeopardised in Australia, via racist attacks, robbery and in sexual attacks. Here is one which happened recently, and it is absolutely terrifying for the victim.
Divya Patpatia is an Asian international student studying at the University of Melbourne in Carlton and was recently a victim to a scary, terrifying and traumatic attack.
She tells 7 News Melbourne that she went to help a man who was apparently locked out of his room. In actual fact he intentionally lured her there. He threatened Patpatia by pointing a butchers knife into her back, and told her to lie down on the bed face down. He then got racist and said to her:
“You are just a brown bitch, I can just kill and stab you and no-one would give a shit”
He then punched and spat on her and raised his knife to stab her, when his phone rang from his parents in Sydney. In terms of time Patpatia was in this terrifying situation for 30 – 40 minutes. When he picked up his phone, it gave Patpatia time to text her neighbours as to what had happened.
He left the room and said he was going to round up all the women and bring them to the room and stab all of them. Patpatia took this time to escape. Melbourne police did a huge search in Carlton but he was no where to be seen. The next day he turned himself in and is now in gaol awaiting for his court date in January, 2022. He has been charged with kidnapping and making threats of violence and rape.
Absolutely scary and it brings up the question about the safety of Asian women in Australia. Clearly, this man was not a man of colour since he made a racist comment towards Patpatia. Let’s hope more safety measures are implemented at the university.