The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona Campus wishes to advise the public that on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at approximately 2 p.m., one of our female students was sexually assaulted in a restroom in the vicinity of the Annex and Senate Buildings. The incident was immediately reported to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and a team was deployed to the Campus to investigate. The UWI Mona Campus takes this matter very seriously and is providing all the relevant assistance to the police to apprehend the perpetrator. We are also providing psychosocial support for our student.

The investigation is ongoing with both the JCF and Campus Security Team pursuing active leads.

Deputy Principal of the Mona Campus, Professor Ian Boxill stated that “The wellbeing of our students is our top priority. Since the occurrence of the incident, the Campus has taken steps to provide all the necessary psychosocial support that is critical at this time. We have reached out to the family of the student and will continue to dialogue, as we continue to support our student in this difficult time”.

Since the incident, the security team has enhanced its operational plan to include the increased monitoring of restrooms. Restrooms that are in extremely remote locations will be kept closed until further notice as the team reviews the monitoring process. The community will see increased vigilance related to persons loitering on Campus; those found to be loitering will be subjected to greater levels of interrogation by the security team. Additionally, given our intent to introduce more technology in our security apparatus to allow for more modern forms of policing, plans are underway to expedite the installation of additional surveillance cameras and panic alarms in more areas on Campus.

Students, staff, and visitors to the Campus are encouraged to continue to assist the security team by reporting any persons behaving suspiciously or those who appear to be loitering on campus.

The Mona Campus community is being reminded that the security team is there to keep our community safe, and we ask that members alert them in instances where there are situations of concern.