A masked predator has been terrorising the capitals women for over a month. JACQUELINE THEODOULOU asks Nicosia women how they feel
TONIGHT IS New Year’s Eve, the most popular night out of the year. But for women across the capital, the festive excitement has been marred by the recent spate of masked attacks.
Over the past six weeks, a total of seven women have turned to the police after being attacked by a balaclava-clad man. Two of the women were raped, two were indecently assaulted, three were injured and all of them were robbed.
Police say that, although most of the descriptions given by the victims match, some of them don’t. this has created the impression that Nicosia may be dealing with two or even more possible rapists.
While police reassure that they will be on extra watch, women are taking precautions of their own.
Maria Stefanou from Pallouriotissa, whose building where she lives has a poorly lit underground car park, says she has taken to carrying a small can of hairspray in her handbag. But she says she rarely goes out now, anyway.
“I don’t go anywhere anymore; I’m terrified. If I do go anywhere, I have to get someone to go with me.”
And plans that she made two months ago for a New Year’s Eve night out, have been cancelled. “I had planned to go to a nightclub with my friends but I have decided to cancel. I will be spending the night with family instead.”
Lisa Charidimou also admits to feeling scared, knowing that there are one or more sexual predators walking among us.
“I have become increasingly nervous now, even when I’m in my car driving, I lock the doors. So it is definitely playing on my mind.”
Asked whether she had taken any extra precautions since news of the rapist broke, she said that she hadn’t really but that she would be much less tempted to go anywhere alone after dark now.
“It’s not the Cyprus it was, is it? It’s becoming more like London. You don’t feel safe like you used to”
Charidimou also told the Cyprus Mail about a recent incident that happened to someone close to her, indicating that there are even more cases the public doesn’t know about.
“My brother’s girlfriend lives in Pallouriotissa (where the first two attacks took place) and he went to pick her up and there was a guy wearing a hood outside the car park.
“My brother freaked out, charged him, got him and called the police who came and got him. She was so scared she went to her village Avgorou and stayed with her parents for a week; took time off work.”
But Katerina Antoniou says that she walks home every night, because she refuses to allow anyone to take her freedom away.
“What am I supposed to do? I walk home through old Nicosia every night. I have no choice. Driving my car would be insane. I just believe that nobody has the right to take away my sense of freedom.”
And in the event that anyone approaches her, she is prepared to fight back.
“We were taught basic self-defence in high school and there are three simple things to remember: everything you own is a weapon, walk in well-lit places with confidence and yell fire.
“When I walk home I always have my mobile phone in my pocket or I’m texting someone. If anyone approaches me I just press the call button, phone a friend and give a description. Second thing, I have my keys in my pocket. Aim for the eye or the testicles. I also always have a lit cigarette in my hand.
“If anyone approaches you, you can just burn him in the eye. Oh and one final thing: yell ‘fire’. Everyone responds to the scream of fire before they respond to a scream of help.”
Joanna Theofilou is the mother of a 17-year-old girl and says that she makes sure her daughter always goes out with a group of people.
“I never liked my daughter going out to any nightclubs with just one of her friends, because Cyprus has changed. With this thing, I told her if she does go out with one or two of her female friends to stick together.
“To go home and stay at her friend’s house or her friend to come and stay at our house but not to separate and go home alone.
“She has a boyfriend, so I feel more comfortable when she goes out with him, his male friends and her brother. I worry more about her being out with her girlfriends than when she’s with her boyfriend.
“She was due to go out last Saturday with a friend and they cancelled and I was really glad. I have told her to get a small hairspray and carry it in her bag all the time.”
Nicoletta Trifonos also says she feels terrified every time her daughter, also 17, goes out.
“My daughter calls me at three in the morning to tell me that she is on her way home and either me or my husband go outside and wait for her.”
Extra police on the streets
POLICE have announced that they will be taking extra measures to protect the public from the masked assailant who still hasn’t been arrested. They have also repeated their concern that there is more than one villain.
Police Chief Tasos Panayiotou said yesterday that more than 100 police officers would be patrolling the streets at night, in every corner of the Capital in order to arrest the criminal and restore the feeling of safety to the public.
He added that police do not have a clear image of the man.
“It seems that there isn’t just one man behind these incidents. But this doesn’t mean that these cases are clear and that all the attacks were made with the intention of indecent assault. It is possible that one of the men had only planned to rob his victim.”
He also expressed his relief that the potato farmers had ceased their protests, as this gives police the ability to concern themselves with more serious crimes.
