Mary Brandon suffered horrific injuries when she was allegedly assaulted by a man who refused to stop groping her at the Notting Hill Carnival.
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She posted an image of her bruised and bloodied face online alongside a message in which she said a man "took a swing at me and punched me in the face" when she told him to leave her alone.
She said: "I'm not normally one for over sharing on Facebook, but I feel a rant coming! At Notting Hill Carnival yesterday a man in the crowd grabbed my arse. When I told him not to he did it again.
"I pushed him away, exercising my right to tell a man to stop touching my body without my permission, so he took a swing at me and punched me in the face."
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"Carnival is supposed to be about community and good vibes. I wanted to have a good time but instead I spent 9 hours in A&E because of this coward. I'm so p****d off that this man thought it was OK to hit me because I said no to him. A woman should be able to leave the house without fear of being sexually assaulted. And she should be able to defend herself without being put in hospital."
"The saddest thing about this for me was discussing with my friends afterwards whether in future it's best not to do anything at all. Maybe it'd be safer to just ignore it when someone invades your space and body.
"But I can honestly say I will always stand up to someone who thinks they can get away with this behaviour and I'd take a punch again from this looser or any other looser who thinks it's OK to treat women like this."
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"If you think it is OK then don't come to carnival next year. You're not welcome there or anywhere in our society. Bog off!
"On the plus side big up to everyone that helped me out who were all amazing! Channel One sound system for getting a nurse and doctor these asap, all the NHS staff who are INCREDIBLE under pressure at carnival and especially Becky and Jess for looking after me."
The photo has now been shared more than 4,500 times, along with Mary's defiant message that she'd "take a punch again from this loser" if it meant women could "leave the house with fear of being sexually assaulted".