Female-only spaces ‘must be given greater protection’ The Times 06.02.19

The original article is here.

Campaigners have called for greater protection of female-only spaces after a trans woman avoided prison for sexually assaulting a ten-year-old girl in a supermarket toilet.

Katie Dolatowski, 18, forced the girl into a toilet last March , ordered her to remove her trousers and told her there was a man outside who would kill her mother. The girl managed to escape.

Dolatowski admitted sexual assault at Kirkcaldy sheriff court last week and was given a community sentence and tagging order, meaning she is not allowed contact with children. However, she was released from Polmont Young Offenders Institution into supported accommodation.

Dolatowski had also tried to film a 12-year-old in another supermarket toilet in Dunfermline last February by holding her phone over the cubicle partition.

A spokeswoman for Women and Girls in Scotland, a feminist campaign group, said the case highlighted the importance of single-sex spaces. “Over 90 per cent of sexual crimes are committed by males,” she said. “It is extremely concerning that in this climate many female-only spaces can be accessed by males if they simply state that they are transgender.

“This horrific sexual assault of a child is a reminder that sexual predators will take advantage of any access they can get and we should be doing all we can to minimise the risk of such assaults.”

The ten-year-old’s mother told The Courier Dolatowski “went [to the toilets] specifically to attack a child. I don’t have any confidence that he will not do something equally as bad or worse.”

It comes after 18-year-old Christopher Daniel was granted an absolute discharge last month after he was found guilty of sexual assaulting a six-year-old girl, meaning he received no punishment and will not be registered as a sex offender. A sheriff ruled that he had acted out of “inappropriate curiosity” and that a conviction would harm his career prospects.