‘Text me when you get home'

WHY WE CAN’T LET THE SENSELESS MURDER OF SARAH EVERARD JUST BE ANOTHER STATISTIC OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

- Sara Tapia

After visiting a friend on the night of March 3, Sarah Everard did everything a woman is “supposed” to do when walking alone at night. The 33-year-old’s 50-minute journey through Clapham Common to her home in Brixton at 9pm saw her take one of South London’s most populated and well-lit paths. She wore bright clothing and rang her boyfriend to check in – ending the call by discussing their plans for the following day. But Everard never made it home that night.

A week later, the police discovered human remains in bushland in Kent – roughly an hour away from where Everard was last seen. The body was formally identified as the marketing executive through the use of dental records on March 12. That same day, Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, was charged with her kidnapping and murder.

The tragedy has sparked an outpouring of grief and rage not just in the UK but around the globe. In Australia, the names Jill Meagher, Eurydice Dixon and Aiia Maasarwe have come front of mind following Everard’s murder. They were also just trying to get home safely when they were murdered by men they didn’t know (see breakout).

Conversations about the lengths women take to feel safe when walking home at night have filtered through phone calls with friends, homes and office buildings – with many also taking to social media to discuss their own experiences of being followed, harassed, catcalled and assaulted.