Zug,07.10.2011

Brave 34-year-old fights off would-be rapist in night-time city-centre attack

A 34-year-old woman was subject to an attempted rape in the early hours of Saturday morning but she put up such a fight that the man ran off. Now the police are appealing to the public to help them with their enquiries.
 
The serious incident took place shortly after 2 am as the woman was on her way home. She had made her way from the subway at the station and walked along Metallstrasse towards the Hotel City Garden and it was as she approached the steps leading up to Bergliweg, near the area of woodland known as Guggiwädli, that the woman noticed a man behind her. She stopped to let him pass by but at that moment the man grabbed the woman violently and tried to rape her. However, the victim defended herself so forcefully by shouting and kicking that the man let her go and he ran off in the direction of the Metalli Shopping Centre. The victim immediately alerted the police, who rushed to the scene of the attack, but so far they have not found any trace of the man and are now seeking the help of the public. Thanks to the victim's good description of the man, it has been possible to produce a photofit picture (photograph).
 
He was described as being between 30 and 40 years old, about 175 centimetres tall and of slim to medium build. He had short dark straight hair with dark eyes and dark, rather bushy eyebrows. He was clean shaven, of neat appearance and smartly dressed with no particular distinguishing features. However, he was aggressive and prepared to use force.
 
The police are now appealing to anyone who recognises this man or who witnessed the attack or saw the man running away to kindly contact them urgently on 041 728 41 41.
 
Police spokeswoman Judith Aklin said that photofit pictures were only rarely published but they had decided to do so in this case because of the serious nature of the crime. Concern for the safety of the public also played a role in the decision to publish the picture. "As long as the man has not been found, there is always a certain danger he will attack again," she said.
 
The fact that 5 days have elapsed between the crime and notifying the public was also raised with Aklin, who denied the police had responded too slowly to the incident. "We reacted very quickly," she said, "but we wanted to exhaust all other channels of enquiry first," and she added that artists for the photofit picture had to be brought into the canton from outside. "There have been many instances where publication of such photofit pictures have helped capture criminals in the past," she said, and cited the case of the so-called midnight murderer of Bern.