University of Edinburgh still investigating student's abusive ex-boyfriend six months after conviction

A woman whose ex-boyfriend pled guilty to abusing her in court says the University of Edinburgh is still investigating her fellow student’s case six months on from his conviction.

Eva McMonigle’s ex-partner was given a two-year non-harassment order and a 50-hour community payback order after he was convicted of threatening or abusive behaviour in August 2024.

Yet Eva, 20, says she was scheduled to take an exam in the same room as her perpetrator just months later and frequently sees him on campus.

The third-year theology student said everything seemed fine when the pair began dating in early 2023, but the relationship eventually turned abusive.

“He was really charming, would cook a lot, would bake a lot; until it wasn’t like that at all,” Eva told STV News.

“He kind of asked me not to speak to my mum, belittled and insulted my friends. It felt like he was turning me away from my friends.

“That continued for a couple of months and then it ended up being physical violence.

“It was when he was drunk at first, but then it started to happen more often. He would wreck my bedroom, throw my furniture around, wreck my passport and then eventually,y it ended up disrupting the other two girls that I lived with.

“That was when I decided to ring the police, and he was arrested.”

In August, Eva’s ex-partner was convicted after pleading guilty to threatening or abusive behaviour. He was sentenced to a community payback order with 50 hours of unpaid work and made subject to a non-harassment order for two years.

Eva immediately informed the university and was told there would be an eight-week investigation and an internal conduct hearing.

Six months later, she’s still awaiting the outcome.

Eva said: “It’s not a case of ‘he said, she said’ accusations anymore because there has been a conviction, so why is it such a difficult process?

“Because of the internal court date, at the end of the investigation, I have to take the stand and give a statement again.

“It just feels like I’m being kept in this loop of reliving the experience. It’s re-traumatising.”

In the last six months, Eva has frequently seen her abuser on campus, and in December, she was scheduled to take an exam in the same room as him, despite the pair being on a different course.

Eva said: “I totally panicked, froze, I didn’t really write much. It was really scary, really intimidating.

“It was so confusing how this could fly under the radar. It’s awful.”

The charity Woman’s Aid says it’s all too common for victims of domestic abuse to bare the brunt of a conviction.

Sinead Welsh, operational manager at Woman’s Aid, said: “Unfortunately, it’s something that we see a lot in society – perpetrators can go on with their lives, uninterrupted, even when there have been charges.

“Perpetrators are not expected to change anything, but we commonly and often see that it’s women and children who are having to uproot their lives.

“They bare the practical impacts of the domestic abuse they’ve experienced. They’re the ones who have to move homes and schools, they often have to give up work and lose their support network, and they bear the financial impact of that.

“However, perpetrators, we do not see that, they are allowed to go on with their lives with no or very little accountability.”

Since her abuser’s conviction, Eva has launched her own podcast and has become a campaigner with Edinburgh Women’s Aid.

Eva said: “When I was experiencing all of this, I didn’t really know where to turn and anywhere I was referred to, I almost felt like I couldn’t relate to the issues being discussed.

“A lot of the support programmes available are for women with children, which is obviously really important, but for me, it just felt like I couldn’t relate because I’m a 20-year-old girl.

“I thought if I’d had something when I couldn’t get out of bed, that I could listen to, just to tell me that everything I had experienced was valid and that it was going to be okay, then that would have made so much difference.

“I feel really privileged to be able to use my voice and talk about it.”

A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “While we don’t comment on individual cases, the safety of our students is very important to us.

“We will not tolerate violence of any kind and violations of our code of student conduct will be dealt with appropriately.

“Reports made to us are taken very seriously and, as we know how difficult and distressing it can be to report an incident, we work hard to support students through the process.”