British backpacker kept rape by stranger in Aussie hostel secret for seven years

Sophie Davis was 21 when she booked a flight to Cairns with her best friend after graduating university in 2014.

But her three-month campervan adventure took a horror turn when the travel writer was sexually assaulted by a man she did not know who was staying at the same hostel.

Sophie told news.com.au that she was scared, alone and thousands of kilometres from home. She thought she “wouldn’t be believed” and kept the awful event to herself.

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However the dark secret gnawed away at Sophie’s mental health for years, resulting in her turning down jobs, dousing her desire to travel and even rendering her house bound at times.

After seven years, she finally sought professional help and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that caused her to struggle with anxiety, depression, panic attacks and flashbacks.

Sophie still experiences symptoms of her PTSD but the now 28-year-old is speaking out about sexual violence in the hopes her story inspires other survivors to come forward and seek help.

“At the time, it made complete sense to me to keep the attack to myself,” Sophie told news.com.au.

“To protect myself, I didn’t tell a soul – not even my best friend or boyfriend at the time.

“I felt like I either wouldn’t be believed or I wouldn’t get the support I needed.”

To cope, Sophie said she “numbed it out and pretended it didn’t happen”, explaining it felt like the “right decision at the time”.

However, the sexual assault – which occurred on the penultimate stop of the trip – greatly impacted her life once she returned home.

“After it happened, I changed my behaviour,” she explained.

“I found it impossible to leave the house, I had to quit jobs, and turn down work.

“For a really long time I wouldn’t travel anywhere alone, as everyone I saw would be a potential threat to me.

“I felt too afraid and vulnerable because of the impact it was having on my mental health.”

Sophie said all that changed when she was flicking through a magazine last year and stumbled across an article about a woman whose story was “staggeringly similar” to her own.

“It was at this moment I realised it wasn’t my fault,” she told news.com.au.

In the weeks after her realisation, she began seeing a counsellor and contacted several rape support organisations in the UK.

“I finally sought the help I had been craving for seven years,” she explained.

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Though she still suffers with flashbacks and the man who attacked her has never been charged, Sophie has been able to tell her friends and family about her ordeal.

“I’ve had time to heal and move forward, but this experience will stay with me forever,” Sophie said.

“It will shape every decision I make in my future, and although that may sound hard to stomach, it’s something I’ve come to terms with.

“I have also become a better person because of it, more aware of other people’s experience, aware that everyone is hiding something beneath the surface.

“I feel closer to those that I love and I feel brave and finally like me, after finally speaking out.”

In the UK, Sophie has become one of the faces of the government’s It Still Matters campaign, which urges victims of sexual violence or abuse to seek confidential support, no matter when it happened.

She also shares inspiring messages with her 18,300 Instagram followers encouraging them to speak out if they’re struggling in silence.

She’s hoping to share a similar message with Australians, particularly where there are a “frightening number of stories similar to her own” among fellow backpackers.

“Women are assaulted, harassed and abused around the world daily. And it just has to stop,” she said.

“We need to stop telling women how to prevent it and instead we need to tell men how to behave and treat women.”

Continue the conversation @RebekahScanlan | rebekah.scanlan@news.com.au