She did everything right. The system didn't.
After Saskia Ponting reported being sexually harassed and followed, her case was closed within 48 hours. Why are women expected to do everything right before institutions do the same?
Looking over our shoulders. Walking a little faster. Keeping our phones in our hands. Sharing our location with a friend. Holding our keys in our fists.
We all know the drill. Being a woman means doing all these things subconsciously as we move through the world.
We’re taught these things so early they become little rituals we hope will keep us safe.
If something does happen, we’re told to report it. Gather evidence. Do everything “properly.” We learn to build our own case before anyone else has even decided whether ours is worth believing.
Saskia Ponting did everything right. But it wasn’t enough.
On her way home from work drinks on May 28th in Cheltenham, Saskia was sexually harassed by a group of teenage boys who made sexually explicit comments and suggestions of rape. At least two of them then followed her. It was around 7.50pm.
Not late at night. Not down an isolated alleyway. But on a busy high street on a light summer evening.
“It’s really strange feeling when you are aware that you are far older than them and it’s still really intimidating,” Saskia told me.
“Being in that situation as a woman, your survival instincts just kick in. You consider escape routes, you check your surroundings, and you just feel that force of dread and you do everything you can to get to safety.”
What she remembers most is the fear. It was one of those encounters that probably lasted only a couple of minutes, but stretched into something much longer inside her own mind as her heart pumped, blood rushed in her ears, and adrenaline started racing through her body.
“I remember feeling scared and holding onto my phone really tightly,” she said. “I remember getting ready to call my partner. I remember increasing my pace and constantly looking over my shoulder.”
Saskia had already thought ahead. What if they followed her around the corner? To her car?
This is another invisible burden women carry. We become investigators in the crimes committed against us.
We memorise street names. We notice where CCTV cameras might be. We think about escape routes. We decide whether it’s safer to call someone or stay quiet. We collect evidence before anyone has even asked for it because simply saying “this happened” doesn’t cut it.
Saskia reported the incident to Gloucestershire Constabulary at around 3:30am. She didn’t want anyone to question why she waited. She and her boyfriend put together as much evidence as they could, including screenshots of the Google street view route she walked, the street addresses of shops she walked past, and a list of banks and shops that would have CCTV footage.
“You believe that the system is there to protect you and prevent it from happening to someone else,” Saskia said.
But around 48 hours later, she received an email from Gloucestershire Constabulary saying that one officer had assessed the information and closed the case. The investigation had barely seemed to have begun.
Despite providing a detailed timeline and identifying numerous locations where CCTV might exist, Saskia was told there were no further lines of enquiry because the suspects were unknown.
It is difficult to see how less than 48 hours would have been enough time to exhaust every obvious line of enquiry — to review the CCTV Saskia identified or make meaningful progress towards identifying the suspects.
Saskia said it felt like “complete gaslighting.”
“It just sends a message that what happened to you doesn’t matter enough to warrant actual police time,” she said.
Saskia did what many women do when they’re unheard and posted to TikTok.
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Her video gained some traction, and soon afterwards, Gloucestershire Constabulary contacted her again to tell her the case was reopened.
When I approached the force for comment, it admitted the investigation had been prematurely closed before all lines of enquiry had been completed. Officers apologised, reviewed CCTV from multiple locations, and have since identified three suspects while working to identify a fourth.
That is, of course, good news. It is more than Saskia expected after the case was reopened because every passing day makes investigations like these harder. Getting any witness statements after the fact is always a race against time. People forget and move on, and opportunities are lost.
“We fully recognise that Ms Ponting did not receive the level of service that we aim to provide,” the police’s statement said. “Hearing her talk about her distressing experience on social media and the subsequent police handling of it, we can understand why she feels let down by our response to the incident. On this occasion we are sorry that the service provided did not meet the level expected.”
But is that good enough? Should women have to build an audience before they receive the investigation they were entitled to from the beginning?
It’s Saskia who has had to adapt. She’s already changed the route she takes from work, and her sense of fear is now more prevalent than its even been, simmering in the background of her everyday life.
“We have to change our lives as a response rather than the perpetrators having to change their behaviours and change their lives,” she said. “It’s completely backwards.”
That’s the contradiction at the heart of almost every conversation about women’s safety. We are constantly reminded of everything we should and should not do. Don’t walk alone. Don’t wear that. Stay alert. Share your location. Report it immediately. Gather evidence.
But what if that’s still not enough? Why is so much less attention paid to what should happen after we’ve done everything we were told to?
On April 1, the UK government announced it was cracking down on sex-based harassment in public, claiming that women and girls would be safer to walk the streets freely without fear of public sexual harassment. It seemed to address these very questions.
The press release acknowledged that when stalking and harassment go unchecked, more serious crimes follow. As a result, a new law of sex-based harassment offence and police statutory guidance were introduced to insure perpetrators would “have nowhere to hide and face real consequences,” it said.
“Instead of forcing women and girls to change their behaviour, we are going after those who choose to target and intimidate them,” Jess Phillips, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls at the time, said in a statement.
“These new laws put the focus on perpetrators. If you harass someone in public because of their sex, it will not be tolerated and you can face a criminal record and up to 2 years behind bars.”
Saskia said combating this “gateway behaviour” was one of the major reasons she wanted to report what happened to her.
“The police, politicians, they need to stop treating street harassment, stalking, and all of these things as minor instances,” she said. “The perpetrator learns that they can absolutely do that and get away with it.”
Everything you need to understand the story is above the paywall. If you'd like to read more about Saskia's experience, her reflections on what happened, Gloucestershire Constabulary's full response, and the Government's comments on the issue, I'd really appreciate your support by subscribing.
