The musician Nadine Shah has said she was sexually assaulted by four men last month in London.
The musician shared images of scratching and bruising on her body in the aftermath of the alleged attack, and said she had been “lucky to get away”.
She wrote that the marks on her body from the incident in September “are just the scars you see on the surface. Those men that night robbed me of my dignity and did far worse than the marks you can see. And im [sic] in a place where I can now speak about it. The abuse of women is everyday and everywhere.”
A representative for Shah offered no further comment.
Shah first posted the images last month, but then removed them. She said she decided to re-upload them following an alleged second, verbal assault, which took place in Ramsgate, that made her “feel threatened physically”.
Here’s me a month ago after being sexually assaulted by four random men in the street. Tonight a man verbally abused me and it brought back all that fear again, so much so I’m gonna leave my new home of Ramsgate. I’m so fucking tired. Leave women the fuck alone! pic.twitter.com/akiOyvDmof
— Nadine Shah (@nadineshah) October 3, 2021
“Tonight a man verbally abused me and it brought back all that fear again, so much so I’m gonna leave my new home of Ramsgate,” she wrote on Twitter. “I’m so fucking tired. Leave women the fuck alone!”
She said that the perpetrator of the second attack was a “friend”.
“Call out your mates, don’t defend your friend or husbands of their foul behaviour,” she wrote on Instagram. “Call them out. Tonight I relived the abuse all over again and I wasn’t believed again. It fucking hurts. I’m lucky in that I have access to this platform where I can speak to thousands of you. Thousands of women dont [sic] #belivewomen”
Kent police were unable to comment on the specific alleged incident. Chief constable Alan Pughsley said: “The shocking and tragic death of Sarah Everard and other recent high profile cases have led to a renewed focus on tackling violence against women and girls that we welcome. However, it is important to remember that this is sadly not a new phenomenon and is something we at Kent Police have always taken very seriously.”
Shah tweeted: “I’m not about to take anymore shit from abusive men even if that does mean losing friends. Tonight was the last straw. I’m not tolerating any more bad behaviour from bullies. Fuck yourself.”
Shah said she intended to leave Ramsgate as a result of her experience.
Born in South Tyneside in 1986, Shah has released four albums to ever-growing acclaim. Her 2017 album Holiday Destination was nominated for the 2018 Mercury prize. She released her latest album, Kitchen Sink, in June 2020.
She has been an outspoken voice in the fight for streaming companies to pay musicians a fair wage for their work.
In November 2020, she told a government select committee inquiry into the economics of streaming that her earnings from such platforms “are not significant enough to keep the wolf away from the door” and that despite critical acclaim and a substantial fanbase, she was struggling to pay rent.
• This article was amended on 4 October 2021. A previous version stated in the text and headline that Shah said she had been sexually assaulted in Ramsgate. This alleged incident took place in London; she said a second, verbal, assault took place in Ramsgate.
