He holds 'scumbag' sign to avoid charges

She was allegedly beaten up for refusing his sexual advances.

But Miss Alisha Hessler (right), from Tampa, Florida, did not go to the police and took matters into her own hands instead, Mail Online reported.

The 20-year-old forced his alleged attacker to stand by a roadside with a sign which read: "I beat women. Honk if I'm a scumbag."

Mr Gabriel Urena was also forced to wear a dunce's hat as part of the humiliating ordeal, in return for her dropping charges against him.

"I think it'll teach him a lesson," she told local TV station Fox 13. "I think he'll think twice about doing it again."

Miss Hessler said the punishment was more suitable for Mr Urena, adding that she did not want him to go to jail.

While she thought she had got justice for the assault, women's advocates and local police were not very pleased.

Ms Mindy Murphy, an advocate for battered women, said the punishment trivialises a serious issue, while Tampa police maintained that the victim should not have taken the law into her own hands.

The police said they tried to get in touch with her, but she did not return her calls.

Miss Hessler said she met Mr Urena only last Saturday night when he was invited to join a group of her friends for clubbing.

By the end of the night, they were sitting next to each other in the backseat of a car and he allegedly groped her.

She asked him to stop, but to no avail. She claimed she hit him in self defence.

Miss Hessler told WFTS, another Tampa TV station: "I did hit him first and then all of a sudden, that was when he started beating me repeatedly, punching me until I had a broken nose and concussion."

She filed a police report and was taken to hospital for treatment.

But she decided against pressing charges after she read Mr Urena's remorseful message on his Facebook page.

He wrote: "Lastnight (sic) was a wake-up call. I seriously need change."

She then came up with the idea as an alternative punishment for him.

If he sat outside at a busy intersection for eight hours holding up the sign, she would not press charges, she told him.

He quickly took up the offer.

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