THE ATTACK on a Nicosia woman indecently assaulted in her apartment block car park in the early hours of Monday was totally unrelated to a spate of similar unsolved attacks two years ago, police said yesterday.
“There is no evidence that this incident is in any way linked to the attacks by the drakos. This is simply a case of indecent assault,” the police spokesman’s office told the Cyprus Mail.
The officer was referring to local reports quoting police sources that the hooded sex attacker was back.
“This is untrue. People can say what they like. From the investigators’ point of view, Monday’s incident is in no way associated to the assailant two years ago and is a straightforward case of indecent assault,” the police officer said.
In December 2005, a hooded man, nicknamed o drakos (the monster) by local press, terrorised Nicosia women after at least half a dozen reported attacks. The incidents stopped after about a month and no one was ever arrested.
At the time, police blamed the drakos for the rape of one woman, indecently assaulting another, attempting to rob a third and appearing to five or six more as they were getting out of their cars. Nevertheless, there were conflicting reports whether the incidents involved the same man or copycats.
Monday’s attack involved a man said to be in his mid 20s. He targeted a 31-year-old woman just after midnight as she tried to get out of her car in her Strovolos apartment block’s car park. The assailant groped her on various parts of her body, slapped her in the face and scratched her neck before running off.
Although police have assured the cases are unrelated, the report has left Nicosia women cold.
“It reminded me of that drakos guy. Not so much that I thought it was him but just that it’s not safe in Cyprus any more… I’ve recently moved into my own place and I’m a bit scared when I park at night and now this has made it even worse,” Andrea Ioannou, 32, said.
“That’s why I’m glad I have an electronic gate to enter my underground parking lot. Anyone would have access to our building otherwise,” added Ioanna Loucaides, 28.
Twenty-five-year-old Christina Michaelidou said the report just made her feel scared.
“It makes you realise that there are so many people out there who can potentially attack you,” she said.
Thirty-year-old Antonia Andreou added: “It makes you realise that this is coming to Cyprus. When I’m in England I’m consistently aware of everyone and everything around me. But in Cyprus you don’t pay any attention and then you hear something like this and realise that just because we live on this little island in the middle of nowhere, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen here. We think of Cyprus as a haven of safety but it’s not any more.”
Only Elena Stavrou was unsurprised.
“I’m careful. I’ll never think it’s something that won’t happen to me. When I was studying in England one girl was murdered and two were raped in the town I was in. Ever since, I’ve been very careful. I’ll never walk through a park alone, down a dark alley, or park in a parking lot at midnight on my own,” the 26-year-old said.
Nevertheless Stavrou accepted that she was lucky because she lived with her fianc? and that made her feel safer.
“I also live in a built up area just outside Nicosia so I’m not so scared,” she added.
