DESPERATE CITY NEEDS ACTION ON CRIME

THE alleged assault and attempted rape of a nurse at Townsville University Hospital is as shocking, as it is violent. Nurses are some of the hardest working people in our city. They are also some of the most compassionate people you will ever likely meet.

To have someone enter the hospital and attack a nurse as she goes about her night shift, is horrific. They have every right to feel safe in their place of work as everyone else does.

To have that breached will have lasting effects on not only this nurse, but also her colleagues. The other victim in this incident, who managed to escape the alleged attacker in the carpark of the hospital, is extremely lucky. It’s understood she had been walking back to her car after caring for her young child in the emergency department, when this man allegedly struck.

Thankfully police caught up with the alleged offender not long after his attempted attacks. And he has been kept locked up after a magistrate refused to give him bail

The y have every right to feel safe

when he appeared in court on Monday. This latest incident, again raises serious questions about the crime epidemic facing this city. It is another violent attack on someone who is just trying to go about their day. And the random nature of both attacks on two vulnerable women in the early hours of the morning should be a wake-up call. The Bulletin has been advocating for the countless victims of crime in this city for, it seems, like an eternity.

Every other week there is a report of a crime that seems more shocking than the last, but the silence from the southeast corner is deafening.

If Townsville hosted a meeting about the Olympics we might see the Premier and her ministers in town to talk with the community about what’s going on, but alas, it’s the Brisbane Games, run by a Brisbane government.