Schoolgirl, 14, ‘dragged behind a bush and raped while waiting for bus’ after man, 40, approached her to ask for directions
A schoolgirl was allegedly dragged behind a bush and raped while waiting for the bus in Italy.
The girl, 14 years old, was raped by a 40-year-old Pakistani man in the Casanova district of the northern Italian city of Bolzano on October 25 at 7:30 p.m.
The teenager, from Bolzano, was wearing headphones and listening to music as he waited in the bus shelter for the next bus when the man approached the girl.
He told the girl he was not from the area and asked her for directions, but his questions quickly turned sexual.
The 14-year-old tried to run away, but the man quickly caught up with her, grabbed her and dragged her behind a bush where he raped her, according to Italian newspaper Corriere.
The girl, aged 14, was reportedly raped by a 40-year-old Pakistani man in the Casanova neighborhood of the northern Italian city of Bolzano shortly before 8pm on October 25 (photo from above).
The girl screamed and fought back during the attack, but no one heard her cries for help in the remote area of Bolzano.
She managed to free herself after fifteen minutes by hitting her attacker with her elbow.
The crying teenager ran away and sought help from a local woman, who called the police and waited with the shocked victim for emergency services to arrive.
The girl was taken to hospital for treatment.
The attacker fled but was apprehended by police as he was about to board a bus heading to the center of Bolzano.
Police said the alleged rapist is a man from Pakistan, 40 years old, who lives in Bolzano, where he is being held on charges of aggravated sexual assault.
He was brought before a judge on October 26, who ordered that the man remain in jail because he posed a flight risk. The judge also feared that the man could commit further assault if released.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini shared the case on social media, writing: “Let’s see if in this case too there will be a judge who will force us to keep this precious foreign ‘resource’ also in Italy…”
The Pakistani man reportedly lived legally in Italy for years and worked in Verona before recently moving to Bolzano to work in a restaurant.
The alleged rape sparked outrage in Italy, with residents of Bolzano planning to take part in a torchlight procession next week in protest against the crime.