WARNING – GRAPHIC IMAGES: Gabrielle Walsh, 18, has bravely spoken out after the attack but says “girls feel like they can’t say ‘no'” as the incident has left her scared to go out
These are the horrific injuries suffered by a teenage girl after she told a man allegedly following her from a nightclub “I’m sorry, I’m not interested”.
Gabrielle Walsh, 18, had been out with her friend Kyle McKeown in Manchester city centre this weekend when they were the victims of a horrific attack.
She says she was punched unconscious and Kyle was “jumped on”.
Graphic photos show Gabrielle’s swollen and bruised eye while Kyle has also shared a picture showing cuts on his face.
Gabrielle says when she opens her eye all she sees is ‘yellow’.
She has been left feeling scared to go out after the attack and says “girls feel like they can’t say ‘no'”.
The pair say they were walking away from Club Bloom at around 3.30am when they were approached by three men.
“We were going to go home,”
“I’d taken my shoes off and this guy came over and said ‘I like your feet’.
“I just said OK and we tried to walk away.
“They kept walking behind trying to talk to me.
“Eventually, I turned around and said ‘I’m sorry, I’m not interested’.”
Gabrielle, from West Gorton, said the man, aged in his mid 20s, reacted by asking ‘who are you with, specky four eyes?’ and pointed at Kyle who wears glasses.
“They kept harassing us,” she continued.
“I was saying to Kyle ‘let’s go’.
“Then he hit me – he fully knocked me out.
“When I woke up I was on the floor and the three of them had jumped on Kyle as well.”
The pair were helped by volunteers from community safety partnership the Village Angels who gave Gabrielle some first aid.
“They tried to get me an ambulance but they said it was a two-hour wait so I just got a taxi to hospital,” said Gabrielle.
“They didn’t do much, they basically just gave me some eye drops and told me to go home.”
“I went back to the eye hospital today and they said I’ve got a blood clot on my eye.
“It still can’t really see out of it, when I open my eye all I see is yellow.”
The incident has been reported to police, although Gabrielle says she is yet to speak to an officer directly.
A friend posted images of her injuries and an account of what happened on social media which has since been shared hundreds of times.
A person who says they witnessed what happened has come forward to confirm what they saw happen.
But Gabrielle, a college student, is hoping police may be able to obtain CCTV of the incident as well which she says has left her fearing going out in public on her own.
“I’m not a rude person, I just said ‘sorry I’m not interested’,”she said.
“I think it was a jealousy, ego thing because I rejected him in front of his friends.
“Girls feel like they can’t say ‘no’
“They feel like if they say ‘no’ then they might hurt you and in this case it was true.
“It’s scared me, I’m scared to go out, I’ve always got to be with somebody.”
