Female journalist ‘raped by knife-wielding migrants’ at Calais Jungle camp
A FEMALE interpreter working on a documentary about the plight of vulnerable refugee children has been raped at knifepoint in the Calais migrant camp, French police revealed.
The terrified 38-year-old was robbed by three armed men from the Jungle, one of whom raped her whilst the other two threatened her colleague with a blade.
The unidentified woman, who was helping a journalist from with a French news broadcaster, was attacked in the early hours of the morning at the entrance of the notorious shanty town.
French prosecutors confirmed that they had “proof” the woman was raped, and said they have collected DNA evidence to help them find the attackers.
She was living in Paris, although originally from Afghanistan, and had been employed to interpret for migrants speaking the Pashtun language which is common in her homeland and neighbouring Pakistan.
The shocking incident is just the latest example of the extreme violence plaguing the Calais migrant camp, and comes just a day after journalists from Sky News were attacked by asylum seekers hurling rocks.
In a statement local prosecutor Pascal Marconville said: “A 38-yearold interpreter from Afghanistan, who is living in Paris, was accompanying a freelance journalist from a production company who was preparing a documentary for [a French news channel] on unaccompanied minors.”
He said the pair were attending a pre-arranged meeting with migrants inside the Jungle when they encountered “three individuals, speaking Pashtun, armed with a knife”.
He added: “They attacked them and stole their equipment and their camera. While two of the individuals threatened the journalist with a knife, the third raped the young female interpreter.”
The woman was immediately taken to hospital after the attack to be checked over, and she then filed a complaint of rape at the police station in Calais.
Journalists and aid workers have been frequently warned about the dangers of working in the Jungle camp, which contains a small hardcore of serious criminals amongst its approximately 6,000 refugees.
This week Sky News journalist Mark Stone revealed how he and his crew suffered a terrifying ordeal in Calais when they were attacked by a gang of migrants hurling rocks.
The TV reporter and his crew were left “cut, bruised and without one of their cameras” after being ambushed in the middle of the night near a petrol station on a road leading to the town’s port.
He said: “We had been welcomed earlier by the migrants, we felt no threat.
“We spotted them and filmed briefly, but then two dozen turned up. Rocks were thrown followed by a sustained attack with knives and sticks until we reached our car - cut, bruised and without one of our cameras.
“What we experienced last night was frightening. These men are evidently violent and they’re dangerous. They wrestled us to the ground and they hit us.”
He added: “It is not unusual. It is happening here on a nightly basis.”