Since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke towards the end of last year, more and more victims of sexual misconduct have found the courage to speak out about their own traumatic experiences. As a result, the #MeToo movement has seen a resurgence, the Time's Up initiative has been born, and allegations have been lodged against several other household names, including Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, Brett Ratner and Louis CK.
However, there is still much work to be done. Case in point: a Russian model has been incarcerated in a Dubai detention prison despite claiming that she fought off a "knife-wielding rapist", and jumped six floors in order to save her own life.
Russian model, Ekaterina Stetsyuk, is currently "in custody" in Dubai after she jumped from the sixth floor of a hotel room to flee a man that she claims was trying to rape and kill her.
After miraculously surviving the fall which occurred after she refused to have sex with a "foreign man", it was discovered that the model had severely damaged her back, and suffered several crushed vertebrae. But after two operations on her back, her family has alleged that Ekaterina has been moved to a detention centre.
Her purported attacker made a counter claim against the model, telling police in Dubai that she attacked him and that he was only defending himself.
Ekaterina claims that her alleged attacker drank wine and "became violent", threatening her with a knife, and demanding that she undress. Her mom Inga stated, "He grabbed a large knife from a coffee table, and held her neck."
She then purportedly clung onto the knife and wounded the man, which gave her time to run to the balcony and jump "in fear of her life".
Her attacker fled to the airport where he was promptly detained. He informed Dubai police that the model had started attacking him, and that in the process of defending himself, he had accidentally pushed her out of a window.
Her friend, Irina Grossman, corroborated "To save her life and dignity, she jumped from the sixth floor. She survived by a miracle." She added, "[Ekaterina] cannot walk or move by herself, but doctors are giving good forecasts because her spinal chord is intact."
Her mother, Inga, is currently raising money to cover the initial £11,000 medical costs in Dubai, after asserting that her daughter is facing "expensive surgery and further rehabilitation".
She and Ms. Grossman are worried about the "development of this situation". "What happened there – all my information is only from speaking to my daughter. The laws are different there," the mother asserted.
"We were not speaking about what happened to Katya because we hoped that our consulate would help. They asked us not to talk to media, but now I do not know whom I can trust."
Ekaterina's mother now plans to fly to Dubai to be by her daughter's side.
Speaking from her hospital bed, Ekaterina recorded a video to reassure her mother. I am doing well, do not worry about me. People from the [Russian] consulate visited."
"All will be fine, do not worry," she added. "I love you. Kisses. I have got everything."
The Russian Counsel in Dubai, Gocha Buachidze, has stated "We are thoroughly studying the situation around Russian citizen Ekaterina Stetsyuk and we are providing all necessary support to her. The investigation is in progress. The Consulate cannot give any more details of the accident due to the request of the citizen herself."
