A 27-year-old American tourist was raped in a public toilet in the heart of Paris, on the banks of the Seine River and near Notre Dame Cathedral, an area that is considered safe. A 23-year-old man was arrested at the scene.
As reconstructed by the newspaper The Guardian, The incident occurred on Saturday night near the Seine rivernear the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the city hall of Paris, a area heavily traveled by tourists during the day and at night, both to walk, sit in one of the restaurants that surround it or even have picnics on the shore, especially everything in the high season, like the current one.
While walking with his partner in the area, shortly after 1 in the morning, the woman stopped to use a public restroom near the Louis-Philippe Bridge in Ward 4.
The British newspaper points out that this bathroom is considered safe and is part of the new facilities that were built six years ago when the area became pedestrianized.
The woman’s partner was waiting for her outside the bathroom but, alerted by her delay, she entered and heard crying. Then she realized that she was being attacked.
The victim managed to flee the situation before the interruption, and then her partner and other women in the bathroom they managed to catch the alleged rapist in a cubicle. The man was arrested by the police and charged with rape.
According to the newspaper The Parisian, the defendant is an Algerian man, who had blows to the face and neck at the time of arrest. The young man lives in the Asnières-sur-Seine area, on the outskirts of Paris, and was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the events.
In a first interrogation, the accused denied rape and said that the woman had given her consent.
The victim was transferred to the Pitie-Salpetrière hospital in Paris. After making a statement to the police, she and her partner they flew back to the United States, but remains in contact with the French authorities for the cause.
Furthermore, Le Parisien reported another similar case. An 18-year-old girl filed a complaint on Monday morning in Versailles, after going to the gynecological emergency department of the Mignot hospital, and stated that She had been raped the night before in the public baths in the Châtelet sector, facing the Ile de la Cité, also on the Seine. The victim and two witnesses presented their testimony. The woman claimed that, under the influence of a drug, a man took her to a public bathroom and abused her.