raffertyhelen

Definitely would like to see the basketball court accessible to everyone as in Dulwich Park. My son loves basketball and could never understand why the nets were locked away.

Hello, my name is Helen - i am the woman who was involved in this incident, owner of the 18 month old Cocker Spaniel and partner to the so called "threat to peckham rye". I work in the film industry, and my partner has his own business, contrary to the disgusting prejudices made by Steve32. We have been law abiding, East Dulwich residents for over 15 years, with two children who attend nearby schools. This incident has been highly traumatic for me and in particular my partner, who has been portrayed as something that he is definitely not. People who know him are aware of how kind and popular he is as a citizen of the East Dulwich area. For reasons clear i will not be giving his name. To give a balanced account: I was walking through peckham rye park, as i do every day with my young Cocker Spaniel. My dog began barking at a stranger (the man who has made these allegations - Steve32), with reasons unclear since it was very out of character. I quickly took control of my dog and apologised to the man, and started to leave. He then accused my dog of attacking him, took out his phone, followed me, continuously shouting that i should be in jail and referring to me as a "bitch". He kept putting his camera in my face repeatedly asking for my name for the video, whilst i tried to turn around and leave. His behaviour unnerved me, so I asked him to leave me alone, but he kept following me, asking me to turn back around, whilst intermittently disappearing and hiding behind bushes and trees. I told him i would ring my partner, which i did. I then spoke to my partner and headed to the cafe. A lady with a pram and her dog who had been walking behind me spoke to me, giving me her name and number as a witness, as she had seen what had happened and told me to ignore him and keep walking whilst she walked with me towards the cafe. My partner then arrived, whilst the man appeared from near the park warden's office. My partner then asked to please talk to him in order to find out why he was being aggressive and following me. The man ran away and took out his phone again to film my partner, who pleaded with the man to stop and talk to him about the issue. Whenever my partner would retreat back towards me, the man would then return from running away and start following my partner to film him again, so it was very back and forth on the rye. At no point, did my partner threaten him or "seriously threaten" the man. The man said he would call the police, which we had no problem with. The police were then contacted, and arrived at the park. A policewoman spoke to me and I told her what had happened. A policeman spoke to the man, assessed the video he had taken of my partner and told me that he believed that my partner was not at all threatening. The policeman asked what the orange/red stick was, and i explained is was just a ball-thrower for the dog to play. I asked if he wanted to speak to my partner, to which he said he didn't need to. I do believe that my partner should not have tried to talk to the man, but he was just very concerned for my safety. The police said they would not take the matter further but had also asked me if i wanted to take this man's behaviour against me any further, to which i replied no. Im shocked to find that this man has now made all these accusations and claims all over the internet, attempting to portray me and my partner as "scum", clearly he believes his Oxford education makes him far superior. It has been a very traumatic experience for me and my family, having friends contact us and seeing pictures of us on the internet(facebook) which were posted without our consent. For him to refer to this incident as an attack is a complete lie - my partner is not a threatening man and i cannot believe Steve32 has stated that he "should be in jail" and is "pond scum" with "previous convictions". My dog is not at all aggressive, he is one of the friendliest dogs in the area, although i can also appreciate that barking can be scary for some. I am very saddened to see that people who work in high levels of government, Steve32 for example, could seemingly use their position to influence others to believe nasty prejudices. I was brought up to be respectful to everybody regardless of their class or education, and i teach my children the same. At no point have we called this man any names, or posted anything other than my account - ill let those that read this make their own judgements. Oxford educated or not, I will be contacting the police and reporting him myself, for bullying, slander and an attempt to paint us as something we're not. I just want to resolve this situation since it has gotten very out of hand. Thank you for taking the time to read, Helen