I was stalked & attacked by a man who didn't fit the ‘profile' – he was good looking with a good job & a girlfriend
FIGHT BACK I was stalked & attacked by a man who didn't fit the 'profile' – he was good looking with a good job & a girlfriend
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WHEN Leigh Collins was woken up to her dogs barking in the middle of the night, she assumed it was her ex-boyfriend messing around.
It was 3am and as Leigh sat down on the couch to calm her dogs, she noticed a dark figure lurking in the hallway.
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Leigh Collins woke up at night to find a random man in her house, weilding her kitchen knife
Credit: from now on podcast/youtube
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Rashad Devon Harris, broke into Leigh's apartment, police suspect he stalked her for years
Credit: Santa Monica police
"I saw a silhouetted figure just kind of peek in and then peek out," she explains.
"Which is a nightmare, then it was like my brain started convincing myself that it was my ex-boyfriend.
"He had a key, we had gotten into a fight that day and so I was talking myself out of it being what it was."
Trying to convince herself the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed, she decided to look around each room in the apartment.
Leigh checked the hallway, the front room, and dining room and found nothing.
But as she walked to the kitchen, she found a man pressed against the wall holding one of her kitchen knives.
Speaking on the From Now On podcast, Leigh said an inner voice took over telling her what to do.
She stood and stared at the attacker, making sure to get every detail of what he looked like before she made a run for her escape.
But he soon caught up with her in the living room and held her against the wall with a knife asking for money.
Leigh recalled how he was acting tense, and asked if she had a boyfriend coming back, she lied and said yes.
The attacker quickly called her bluff and relaxed, knowing no one was going to disturb him.
He walked Leigh over to her bedroom, somewhere she knew she didn't want to be with him, so she told him cash was in the guest bedroom.
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Now, Leigh shares the warning signs to look out for
Credit: from now on podcast/youtube
Sexual abuse in numbers
669,000 adults are sexually assaulted in England and Wales every year 1 in 5 women (8m) in the UK have been sexually abused
1 in 6 men (5m) in the UK have been sexually abused
1 in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused
Sexual abuse has been attributed to: 15% of all suicides in the UK
11% of all common mental health disorders in the UK
7% of alcohol dependence disorders
10% of drug dependence disorders
15% of eating disorders
17% of post-traumatic stress disorders
(Source: Safeline)
Once she handed the money over, he asked what else she had to offer, and she realised he wasn't there for a robbery.
He soon took her to the bedroom again and began to sexually assault her, Leigh says her life and her future played like a film in her mind.
She added: "You know people say when you're in a near-death experience that you'll have a flash of your life, mine was a flash to my future.
"I think it was my brain's way to show me I had something to fight for."
The intruder then climbed onto the bed with Leigh and she could tell he was enjoying her fear, as he moved closer, he took the knife off her throat and she saw it as her opportunity to fight back.
FIGHTING BACK
First she screamed for help, before he straddled her and began beating her and trying to stab her.
Leigh hit back, and she was able to get her legs from underneath him and kick him off the bed.
She soon noticed some of her fingers were almost cut off from her hand and her energy soon shifted to rage as she saw the damage he had done.
Screaming, she beat him and told him she would kill him unless he got out the house.
I wanted to share some qualities about him that I found surprising and also say, always trust your intuition.
Leigh Collins
While he initially fought back, he soon got up and fled and Leigh was able to call the police for help.
Three days later, Rashad Devon Harris, was arrested, and police discovered he had been stalking Leigh for years.
Last year, Rashad was sentenced to life in prison and Leigh, who has made a full recovery from her injuries, advocates for victims on social media.
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
In a recent clip, she warned women to be careful and to trust their gut instinct, claiming her intruder didn't follow the usual stereotypes of this type of criminal activity.
She said: "I wanted to share some qualities about him that I found surprising and also say, always trust your intuition. I don't remember meeting the man who stalked me, but I know I must have."
Leigh first said that unlike most people who commit sexually motivated crimes, he was good-looking, had a girlfriend, a good job and even a support network of family and friends.
"He was hiding in plain sight," she added. "These guys can compartmentalize and they're incredibly manipulative."
Leigh went on to say that you should always pay attention to your intuition, rather than what the typical archetype is for dangerous people.
"I could feel the emptiness from him. And it scared me. Not just from the way he behaved, not just from his eyes or the way he looked," she explained.
"The feeling of him was that there was a shell and inside there was nothing. if you get a feeling like that from someone, that chill up and down your spine, pay attention to that.
"More than paying attention to what the typical archetype of someone like this is."
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