21-year-old Cascais surf Mariana Rocha Assis had a lucky escape after being attacked by a would-be rapist. As the man tried to force himself on her, she kneed him sharply in the groin and made her getaway. But she wasn’t fast enough to avoid his 20cm blade knife which slashed her in the stomach. Assis managed to run to safety and then call her boyfriend who took her to hospital.
The case now is in the hands of PJ police.
The attack happened in a well-lit area in the early hours of Saturday morning, between Poça and Azarujinha beaches.
Writing over social media, Assis has described her “anger, pain, frustration and fear” because “the son of a bitch is still out there”.
She adds: “I have a lot of respect for all the women who can not react like I did and are raped by these crazy people who are on the loose and should be in hell”.
Commentators commiserating with her ordeal have warned against walking alone at night anywhere, well-lit or otherwise.
One has described what a recent story that hasn’t appeared in the press of a young woman in her car in Sintra “looking at her mobile phone” when a man jumped in with a gun and told her to drive to a motel where he purportedly abused her for seven hours before making her go to an ATM and withdraw all the money she had in her account.
Mariana, who surfs for Team Roxy, has been told to ‘take it very easy’ until she heals.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
