Cassiobury Park attack victim campaigning for more lights

Sheraze – who was taken to hospital with cuts and bruises after the assault in November 2022 – and 128 other people have called on the borough council to install lights and CCTV along a busy path in Cassiobury Park.

Presenting her petition to Watford Borough Council on Thursday, March 16, Sheraze told councillors how passers by could not see what was happening in the darkness, and how the authorities have been unable to track down the attacker.

Cassiobury Park attack victim Sheraze is campaigning for more lights at the park. (Image: Supplied)

Council leaders have said Cassiobury Park has not been identified as an “anti-social behaviour hotspot or high-risk area for crime”, but that local authorities agree tackling violence against women and girls (VWAG) is a “strategic objective” over the coming years.

“I am not giving up on this,” Sheraze said.

She told the council: “I was a victim of an assault in Cassiobury Park. It was barely 6.30pm. I was walking up towards the town.

“I saw a few people walking past me but the attacker came out of nowhere. I couldn’t see anything. It was dark.

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“There were people who were walking back who could have stopped to help, but nobody stopped to help because it was too dark.

“Somebody came back when they heard me crying and they said ‘I saw you but it was too dark’.”

Sheraze added: "Things happen, but what can we do to minimise the number of incidents that happen?

“People say this will affect animals and nature, but this petition is not to put lights everywhere – it’s to put lights on one path where commuters go daily.

“At one point after my attack, I stood there and counted how many people I saw. I saw 84 people – and of those 63 were female, walking like me at 5pm.

Sheraze was attacked in Cassiobury Park last November. (Image: Supplied)

“We have some lights in the park, but they are not that strong. I could plead and I could say ‘poor me’, but I worry about my children, your children, your sisters, your brothers. We could change so much.”

Councillor Peter Jeffree (LD), who represents Park ward, said the route where the attack took place – the footpath between Shepherds Road to Parkside Drive – is one of the most important routes in the park.

He said: “That [path] has good lighting at the moment.

“There are one or two things which need to be done to make it better.

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“There are gaps on CCTV coverage and significant gaps ought to be addressed.”

Cllr Jeffree said longer routes through the park are paralleled by residential, lit streets such as Parkside Drive and Cassiobury Park Avenue.

“I don’t think we should be spending money we don’t have on adding lighting,” Cllr Jeffree said.

“There is a question of balance.

“We shouldn’t be turning a semi-rural park into an urban park.”

Vicarage councillor Sara Jane Trebar (Lab) said she would support lighting and CCTV improvements in the park, which lies to the north of her ward.

“It’s really brave – to see a woman coming here and talking to us from a female point of view,” she said.

“I don’t walk through the park because of the lighting. For me, it’s unsafe. I tell my daughters not to walk that way.

“I can’t say how much the lighting would improve that and it would become a possibility for more people to use the park.”

Councillor Aga Dychton (LD) is responsible for community at Watford Borough Council and said although Cassiobury Park is not a crime hotspot, the authority will monitor where VWAG takes place in the town.

She said: “Watford’s Community Safety Partnership involves a number of key agencies including the council and the police.

“The partnership for strategic objectives includes tackling VWAG, which we are very passionate about.

“VWAG will remain an objective overseen and monitored by the partnership throughout the 2024/25 plan.

“As a council, we are now an accredited ‘white ribbon’ organisation as part of an international initiative to prevent violence against women and girls.

“As part of our commitment, we are raising awareness across the borough and are working with community partners to tackle VWAG and to identify Watford as a safe place for all.”

Cllr Dychton said the council promotes several campaigns and organisations to support women in Watford, including Ask for Angela, White Ribbon, #Enough, Watford Women’s Centre, and the Sunflower helpline.

She said: “I fully understand this is a very sensitive issue and I thank Sheraze for raising this and attending this meeting.

“I hope what has been shared this evening in terms of what the council and police are doing is enough to reassure you we are looking after our residents.”

Police have recorded four violence or sexual assault crimes in Cassiobury Park or at Watford tube station across the six months to January 31, 2023, according to police.uk data.