A COUNCIL chief has revealed how she was raped as she spoke out at her horror over a sex attack video game.

East Ayrshire Council depute leader Elena Whitham says she was sexually assaulted by a man she had just met during a university night out.

Elena says the stranger raped her when she was 19 and studying in Canada.

The 44-year-old mum bravely shared her shocking experience as she spoke out against game Rape Day which features ‘players’ attacking women.

Elena said: “For me there is nothing entertaining about rape. It can happen to anybody. I was so incensed when people were trying to dismiss the game as entertainment.”

The former Women’s Aid worker was a carefree student who felt “invincible” before she was attacked.

Elena had been out in an unfamiliar nightclub in Montreal with her friend when they met two guys.

She said: “I was wearing a mini skirt with fishnet tights and Doc Martens. I can’t even remember what colour my hair was. It could have been pink.”

Elena ended up alone with the man in a room at her pal’s house after her friend popped out to get cigarettes.

Elena, of Newmilns, told the Chronicle: “Things happened that I was okay with. Then things happened and I wasn’t okay.

“I made it clear I didn’t want it. There was nobody to hear me. I justfroze. I thought if I struggle I will just get hurt more.”

Her attacker fled the building and Elena never saw him again as the police couldn’t trace him.

Recalling the investigation, she said: “I can remember the police taking my clothes. It was a huge indignity. I never got them back.

“I went home and was in the shower for ages. I would have used bleach on my body if somebody had given it to me. My mum had to tell me to get out.

“I was at my lowest ebb. I blamed myself and my friend blamed herself. It coloured university for me.”

She added: “I wondered if he regretted what he did and I worry whether he ever did it again.”

Elena’s family, who had emigrated to Canada from the Kilmarnock area, moved back to Ayrshire with her after she finished her journalism and communications degree at Concordia University.

On her return, she worked with a homeless charity before joining Women’s Aid.

The training she received to support victims of sexual and domestic abuse has helped her deal with the traumatic incident.

Her belief in promoting women’s rights left her completely incensed when she heard of the ‘Rape Day’ game on platform Steam.

The game was removed after thousands of people called for it to be banned on social media earlier this month.

Elena took to Twitter to announce it was unacceptable while fearlessly revealing she herself had been a rape victim.

She said the game perpetuates a view involving women being seen as commodities.

She said: “Violent gaming that seeks to normalise rape is abhorrent. We have to say it is not acceptable. There are consequences for women in their lives.”

Even now, years after the horrifying ordeal, Elena remains highly vigilant when travelling alone.

She said: “You are hyper aware. If I’m getting a train early in the morning or going to my car late at night I am conscious of where I am and what is happening.”