Bachelorette Katie Thurston Says Justice System Failed Her After Rape

Former famous person of The Bachelorette Katie Thurston has revealed that she misplaced a prison case against her alleged rapist in a heartbreaking observation.

“I’ve had abundant beef up from my group which allowed me to stick sturdy over those past seven months,” Thurston stated in a commentary to Us Weekly on Saturday, June 29. “While the end result is disappointing, I am at peace and turning any ache into purpose and hope to assist other survivors of sexual attack.”

Thurston, 33, shared a statement about her assault via Instagram on Saturday as part of a bigger carousel of informational graphics detailing her revel in reporting her rape and the assets she used to survive the ordeal.

“The justice system continues to let down victims every day,” Thurston wrote. “I refuse to really feel defeated within the strength it took to be an recommend for myself. I hope my experience will lend a hand those feel the strength and beef up they need.”

Former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe commented on Thurston’s publish, pronouncing, “I do know we now have talked offline but just wanted to allow you to know that sharing this on-line issues. I’m so sorry you had to go through this. I really like you.”

Thurston noted in her put up that whilst she is “now not ready to proportion [her] story, [she desires] to proportion the dear sources that saved [her] life.” (Thurston made her Bachelor Nation debut on season 25 of The Bachelor sooner than she headlined season 17 of The Bachelorette.)

The Bachelor Nation celebrity mentioned she referred to as 911 to report her assault, which sent a police officer to take Thurston’s statement and delivery her to a specialised scientific middle for a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) exam. She additional praised the “two ladies” who were with her — a nurse and an recommend — all the way through the exam, who Thurston described as “kind, nurturing” and “affected person.”

“I felt like a small misplaced child who used to be susceptible and scared,” she shared. “They totally defined the process, soliciting for consent alongside the best way, and allowing me to say no or exchange my thoughts at any time.”

Thurston explained that as part of her SART exam, her blood was once drawn to check for “STDs, medication, and blood alcohol concentration,” earlier than she was given a slew of medications to forestall being pregnant and combat any attainable infections. This used to be all done “without charge” to Thurston, “regardless if I had insurance coverage or not.” Her rape package would take 4 months to fully process.

“Nothing may just move till this was achieved, so the time between allowed me to hunt psychological well being beef up,” she continued. Thurston also shouted out the resources she used: The Center for Community Solutions, CA Victims of Crime Board and the book Know My Name via Chanel Miller.

Despite going via all the essential protocols that include reporting and doing the whole thing she “will have to have achieved as a victim of rape,” Thurston became every other survivor of sexual attack who has been let down by means of the justice system.

“I did the whole thing I must have performed as a sufferer of rape,” Thurston wrote in one of her slides. “‘Here are my texts, my calls, my footage, my movies, names, witnesses, places, social media, time stamps, surveillance photos, DNA, my body.’ The warning ‘a accountable verdict is difficult in legal courtroom’ echoed right through the months, like an worrying parrot you were pressured to keep. And as much as I heard it, I still wasn’t able to be stopped. And yet, without caution, I used to be.”

She concluded, “This is not a loss to me. I am secure. I am cherished. I'm supported. Change happens in failure. And the justice system failed me. And continues to fail thousands every unmarried day. But do not give up.”

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Previously, Thurston made headlines in 2021 when she spread out about an attack that took place greater than a decade prior right through an episode of The Bachelorette. During a “vulnerability” themed date, Thurston revealed to a bunch of contestants that she was once “fascinated with a state of affairs the place there wasn’t consent” at a birthday party the place she had fed on alcohol.

“For a very long time I felt chargeable for being too under the influence of alcohol, too irresponsible, too silly,” Thurston said all the way through the episode. “But it’s not my fault as a result of consent is essential and I didn't give it that night.”

If you or anyone you recognize has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

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