{"id":309730,"date":"2026-02-21T11:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/309730\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T11:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:17:07","slug":"photo-of-ucd-student-nude-bruised-and-unconscious-was-shared-with-students-and-staff-td-tells-dail-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/309730\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo of UCD student \u2018nude, bruised and unconscious\u2019 was shared with students and staff, TD tells D\u00e1il \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

University College Dublin<\/a> (UCD) is reviewing how it handles cases relating to dignity and respect, including image-based sexual abuse, after an intimate image of a female student was shared with staff and students.<\/p>\n

Last week, Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger told the D\u00e1il the image of the young woman, a student at its school of medicine, was taken after she was raped.<\/p>\n

Coppinger said the image showed the victim \u201cnude, bruised and unconscious\u201d and was accompanied by \u201cfurther rape threats and further threats to use objects to violently rape\u201d her.<\/p>\n

It has been circulated to staff and students through WhatsApp<\/a> and email. The individual responsible for the image has not been identified.<\/p>\n

Coppinger, a TD for Dublin<\/a> West, criticised UCD\u2019s handling of the incident and the support it provided to the student.<\/p>\n

In an email to students and staff on Friday, Orla Feely, president of UCD, said individuals may have become aware of \u201can appalling situation involving one of our students\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe university acknowledges the deep distress and anguish that this shocking and abhorrent activity from an unknown source has caused the student,\u201d the email said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCD takes a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of bullying, harassment and sexual violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feely said the university reported the incident to garda\u00ed \u201cimmediately\u201d after becoming aware of it. She added that UCD has been supporting law enforcement in their investigation, which is ongoing.<\/p>\n

According to the email, the student was supported by the head of student advisory services. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe head of the school of medicine, Professor Paddy Mallon, has offered to meet with the student over recent weeks and I have also invited her to meet with me and our vice-president for equality, diversity and inclusion, Professor Aoife Ahern,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The university president encouraged other students who have experienced bullying, harassment or abuse to avail of the services provided.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisclosures can be made confidentially, will be listened to in a non-judgmental manner and will be actioned by us or by other authorities as appropriate and possible with the information provided,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Feely said it is \u201cdeeply troubling and saddening\u201d that the university community can be a \u201ctarget for malicious individuals who use sophisticated digital technologies to conceal their identity while carrying out their appalling actions\u201d. <\/p>\n

Ahern has been leading a review of how the university handles dignity and respect cases, the email said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis review will now consider any additional steps that need to be taken to combat new and evolving forms of abuse, including image-based sexual abuse and AI<\/a>-related abusive activities,\u201d the email added.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed were approached for comment.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the D\u00e1il last week, Coppinger said the rape victim had chosen not to report the crime to garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost women and victims do not want to report,\u201d she said, adding that the woman \u201cdid not want to report because she knew she would probably not be believed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The TD added: \u201cThis sort of reaction by the UCD authorities does not bode well for anybody who wants to come forward in these situations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"University College Dublin (UCD) is reviewing how it handles cases relating to dignity and respect, including image-based sexual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,5762],"class_list":["post-309730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-ucd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}