barrister corroborates abbott allegations

So looks as though Abbott's denial is on shaky ground. The woman allegedly attacked by Abbot was said to be "shaken, scared and angry"

A SYDNEY barrister and former political foe of Tony Abbott has backed claims the Opposition Leader intimidated fellow Sydney University student Barbara Ramjan after she beat him for the SRC presidency in 1977.
Another former student contends Ms Ramjan was ''no shrinking violet'' and once reduced to tears Tanya Coleman, who eventually married Peter Costello.

The re-emergence of claims might relate to his past life but Mr Abbott, who has assiduously been trying to change the perception he has a problem with women, has not fronted the media since Friday.

In an essay on Mr Abbott by the former Herald journalist, David Marr, Ms Ramjan said: ''He came up to within an inch of my nose and punched the wall either side of my head. It was done to intimidate.''
Mr Abbott at first said he had no recollection of the incident but now says ''it never happened''.

The barrister, David Patch, a Labor candidate in 2004, was Ms Ramjan's campaign manager in 1977. In an article for today's Herald, he says he did not see the incident but was nearby.
''The count had just finished. Barbara found me. She is a small woman and Tony Abbott was (and is) a strong man. She was very shaken, scared and angry,'' he writes. ''She told me that Tony Abbott had come up to her, put his face in her face, and punched the wall on either side of her head.''
Mr Patch said he has no doubt the story is true. ''The law (and commonsense) recognise that when victims complain immediately it is very likely they are telling the truth. It is the spontaneity of the complaint, and the inability to fabricate a false allegation in a short period of time, which give it the ring of truth.''
No one has yet come forward to say they witnessed the event. It is understood Ms Ramjan noticed a group of people at the end of a corridor who may or may not have been watching.
This has not stopped others involved in campus politics sending in their recollections.
Ross Kerridge, a self-described ''minor player'' in student politics in the late 1970s, says he remembers the incident being discussed widely at the time.
''But to be fair, Barbara was no shrinking violet. At one SRC meeting she reduced Tanya Costello [Coleman] to a welter of tears with some amusing barbs about her politician father.''

Full story at http://m.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/punch-witness-comes-forward-with-tales-of-anarchy-in-the-src-20120912-25sxx.html