SORRY, I JUST HAD TO DO IT, YOU HAVE THE BEST A***
Stranger’s chilling words to jogger before allegedly groping her five times
A GOLD Coast woman says she’s too scared to walk alone in her neighbourhood after being allegedly groped by a stranger in the lobby of her apartment building. Jesse Ratu says she had returned from a morning run in Southport on Sunday when the man approached her from behind. “I was walking up to (the lobby) to buzz myself in and I could see his reflection in the glass behind me,” she says. “He grabbed my bum five times — really fast. He said, ‘Sorry, I just had to do it, you have the best arse’.” Ms Ratu says she quickly let herself in and closed the door, telling the man: ‘Don’t (expletive) touch me’. I thought he was going to pick me up and steal me. I was so scared.” Police are looking for the man.
A GOLD Coast mother of two is considering moving house after she was allegedly groped on the buttocks in broad daylight by a stranger outside her apartment complex.
Jesse Ratu, 24, was returning from a morning jog in Southport on Sunday morning when a man allegedly rushed up to her and grabbed her buttocks.
“I turned around and he grabbed my bum five times – really fast,” Ms Ratu said.
“He said, ‘Sorry, I just had to do it, you have the best arse.’”
CCTV footage at the Norman Street building shows the man touching her.
Ms Ratu said she spotted the man approaching from the opposite direction around 7.30am.
The man appeared lost, but she said she didn’t think much of it and turned into her apartment block.
“He looked like a construction worker (with his blue trousers). I thought maybe he was looking for a building,” she said.
“I was walking up to (the lobby) to buzz myself in and I could see his reflection in the glass behind me.
“He walked really fast towards me and I got nervous.”
Ms Ratu said she turned around to look at him and he just smiled.
But when she turned back round, he allegedly grabbed her buttock five times.
Shocked, Ms Ratu quickly let herself in and closed the door behind her, telling the man: “Don’t (expletive) touch me”.
“I shut the door behind me because they can be slow,” she said.
“I thought he was going to pick me up and steal me. I was so scared.
“I was too scared to turn back and look. I ran up the hallway and turned left at the lifts where he can’t see me.
“I went back to my apartment where my partner was. I was screaming and crying to him.”
Her partner, Brendan Wilson, immediately ran outside but could not find the man.
A police spokeswoman said a complaint had been lodged and police were investigating the matter.
Ms Ratu, a sales assistant, said the incident had left her scared to afraid to walk outside by herself – and her family was already thinking of moving somewhere else.
“We’ve only been here for six months. We’re now thinking about moving. I’ve always lived in Southport but never lived down this end.
“I’m guessing he lives nearby. Someone has got to recognise him.”
The man is described as being of African descent, about 1.8m with facial hair and short black hair. He was wearing long blue trousers and a lighter coloured shirt.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
THE #metoo campaign has been shockingly effective at helping to expose the all-too common and highly prevalent occurrence of sexual assault in society.
Started late last year as a way of highlighting just how widespread it was, the social media hashtag has been shared a dizzying number of times and it continues to be.
There will be few people who will not have had a “friend” on their Facebook feed share the tag and their story. People — and, yes, mainly female — from all walks of life, including some big names in showbiz, added their weight to the online snowball of cases.
Sexual harassment — whether in the workplace, in public or in private — has never been more prominent in the public mind, particularly after the avalanche of allegations surrounding Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
It opened the flood gates to a host of allegations against national and international stars. Think Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Spacey and, closer to home, Craig McLachlan.
It makes even more chilling one aspect of a brazen alleged grope of a Southport woman returning from a morning run on Sunday morning: the nonchalant justification by the alleged perpetrator.
“Sorry, I just had to do it, you have the best arse.”
That is what 24-year-old mother-of-two Jesse Ratu claims the man told her as he allegedly groped her behind repeatedly in broad daylight in the foyer of the building where she lives.
CCTV footage shows a man approaching and putting his hand on her in an incident that has left her understandably rattled.
The seemingly entitled mindset of the man allegedly responsible suggests little empathy for the victim who now fears roaming her neighbourhood alone even during the day. This kind of conduct is never acceptable.
Sexual harassment at all levels must continue to be vilified and treated as such.
The latest Southport incident has prompted leading defence lawyer Campbell MacCallum to muse on the intriguing double standard when a similar act occurs in a bar or nightclub — and lamenting it often goes unreported.
The offending is the same, but because of the context of the situation, Mr MacCallum points out “unfortunately it is considered not as serious”.
Thankfully, Miss Ratu made her escape into the building without further incident.
But her fright and disgust will no doubt linger on.
No one deserves to be treated like an object — and hopefully the CCTV footage of the incident leads to swift identification.