British couple saves tourist from assault

Today in Seychelles
8 hrs ·
Tuesday 12 December 2017
Praslin attack
British couple saves tourist from assault
The couple, who witnessed the attack, say that a man “strangled and hit” a female tourist on the Grand Anse Praslin beach where he attempted to rape her.
by S. Marivel
The 27-year-old Swedish tourist was lying on the beach that Sunday afternoon reading a book when a man “came out from the bushes behind a hotel establishment signboard and started strangling her and beating her face,” says one British tourist who was also on the Grand Anse beach with his wife at the time of the attack.
He explains that he tried to chase after the man who was later apprehended by police and is currently in police custody.
The witness and his wife, who were staying at a nearby tourism establishment, called police, and tended to the young woman, whose nose was broken and face swollen.
While they waited for police to arrive, the couple asked the young woman to recount as much as she could remember, fearing that she would have a concussion from the bruises she suffered on her head, or would faint from shock, forgetting vital information for the case. According to them, she said that the man came out with his private parts exposed, telling her that he would rape then kill her.
The witnesses also note that the young woman had nothing of value with or on her for the man to steal, and that the attack “seemed to be with the intent to hurt.”
“We waited for over 30 minutes for the police to arrive and at first no one was picking up our calls at the station,” the man told TODAY, adding that there were no police patrols in the area and that it would have taken them less time to “just walk to the station ourselves and report the incident.”
“I’m just glad we were there, just about 20 feet away from her when it happened, otherwise who knows what would have happened?” he wonders.
TODAY established that the victim was at the Victoria Hospital undergoing medical tests yesterday. The young woman who arrived in Seychelles on 2 October is supposed to leave the country on 1 January 2018.
Both the victim and the witnesses have given their statements to the police. Police reported late yesterday that the perpetrator, a 33-year-old man from Belonie, was working with a security company on Praslin and has been found guilty of “action with intent to cause grievous harm.” He is due to appear in court on 22 December.
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