Woman assaulted at Anstey Hill says emergency phones, markers needed on track
A young nurse who was injured fleeing a frightening attack on a popular walking trail has described how she got away, but says more emergency facilities are needed to keep people safe.
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A young woman who was assaulted on a walking track in Anstey Hill Recreation Park on Friday morning has called for the installation of emergency phones and markers along the trail.
Jessica, 26 said she was attacked by a man while walking along the Yellowtail Loop that she takes through the park in Adelaide’s northeast at least five times a week.
The nurse from the north suburbs, who did not want her surname published, said she saw a man swap paths to the one she was walking on. She said he attempted to grab her arm twice, before reaching for her waist and pulling them both to the ground.
She rushed to her feet from the scuffle but suffered a deep gash to her right leg as she attempted to run away.
“I looked back and he was getting up and he was looking at me as he was getting up, and I just kept running,” she said.
She ran for at least 10 minutes before getting a mobile phone signal to be able to call her partner, who told her to call the police.
Jessica ran into a couple on the way back, and told them about the assault.
They escorted her to the carpark where her partner, the police, paramedics and park rangers were waiting.
She was taken to the Modbury Hospital where she received several stitches.
She will need to take around two weeks off work due to the deep cut, which is around 12cm long.
“Some of those emergency phones around that place would be good, where there’s no (mobile) reception,” Jessica said.
She said markers would have helped her describe where she was to police.
“You’re in the middle of the path, there’s a good 30 minutes each way to get back to the carpark or any of the main roads,” she said.
“You forget at the time you can call for help without a phone signal, but I guess in that situation you’re just thinking ‘I need to get as far away as I can’.”
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Jessica said women should not have to fear hiking alone.
“Anstey Hill has always been a place I have been able to hike and feel safe.”
She said she would return to Anstey Hill with a group of friends when she feels comfortable doing so.
On Friday, police arrested a 51-year-old man of no fixed address and charged him with assault.
He was bailed to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court in September.
They are investigating any links to a similar assault at Morialta Falls on June 20.