Second victim tells of attack
Asecond victim has described her attack by a suspected serial predator — and says police should have issued a public warning to ensure other women could be safe.
The woman, who was 19 when she was assaulted on a secluded path near Wellington’s Massey University in 2012, said she was horrified to learn afterwards there had been another incident in the same area nine months earlier.
“When the detective told me there had been other cases I felt, surely this should be known,” she said.
“If I had known I never would have walked there, and I wouldn’t be another statistic.”
She said she felt devastated after reading the Herald at the weekend to find the same man had possibly attacked up to 11 other women, and was the subject of a current police investigation — something they hadn’t made public.
“If police believe it’s the same person and it’s happening often, there definitely should have been some kind of announcement,” she said.
“I understand the need for privacy, there doesn’t have to be details, but if I had known that there was someone out there . . . it would have made a difference to me.”
The woman, who did not want to be named, said the details of her attack were very similar to that described by scientist Grace Leung, who was assaulted on the pathway in August 2011.
Leung, who is short and slight, was grabbed from behind as she walked at night and told: “Scream, and I’ll kill you.” She fought the man off and ran away. She later said he seemed unfit.
The second woman said she was of average height, but at the time weighed only 48kg. A man ran up behind her and grabbed her, putting one hand on her mouth and one around her neck, and said something like “don’t scream”.
“I fought back the best I could. I pulled the beanie off his face. I wanted to see him,” she said.
“He punched me and I fell to the ground, but my fight instinct kicked in. I knew if I scratched him . . . I’d get some DNA under my fingernails.”
The woman said the man didn’t feel very strong.
“I think that’s why we [got away. But] he might bring a weapon next time. That kind of crime can escalate . . . to rape or even murder.”
Her attack ended when someone came down the path from the nearby gym. By that time she was curled in a ball on the ground.
She went to her boyfriend’s house and cried all night. “I showered . . . and showered. Even though I’d been scratching him to get [his DNA].”
The next day she went to the police station — not for her sake, but because, she says, she didn’t want it to happen to anyone else.
“But now it’s happening again.” The incident changed her whole life, the woman said. She stopped going out. She couldn’t walk alone.
If she saw anyone who bore a resemblance to the man — who she said had tanned skin, not pale skin like the man described by Leung — she would get angry.
“I’m getting better, but I’m quite reactive. I really don’t like it if my friends are going out and they walk off. I make them get a taxi,” she said.
She said when she reported her attack, police did an excellent job. But after six months, she gave up hoping the man would be caught.
“For a while I thought, ‘Why me? Was it something I was wearing?’ But I know it wasn’t my fault.”
She said it was difficult coming to terms with the impact it had on her life, for example going home early from university so she wouldn’t be alone in the dark.
“This shouldn’t be about telling women to be safe. It should be telling men to get their shit together,” she said.
Wellington police have so far confirmed there are 12 cases possibly linked to the man, believed to include the cases at Massey and some near Victoria University.
Ties between the cases are believed to be behavioural, rather than forensic, but little is known about the possible offender.
Leung thought she recognised him in a 2014 identikit produced after two more assaults at the Boyd Wilson field near Victoria, but her phone call identifying the man was never followed up.
Police refused to comment further for “investigative and operational reasons”.