Southbank stalker: woman narrowly avoids abduction in violent apartment attack
A tearful Colombian student has described the terrifying moment a brazen predator followed her home to a Southbank apartment, saying one thing saved her from his clutches.
Police & Courts
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A young woman, who was attacked by a stalker who followed her into her Southbank apartment building, has described the terrifying moment she escaped his clutches.
The 23-year-old international student from Colombia was grabbed by the man in the corridor outside her apartment about 2am on Saturday.
After a brief scuffle she lunged for the door handle, which fortunately was unlocked, and fell to the floor inside her apartment.
The offender then fled.
Police said the man had trailed her for about four blocks before sneaking in behind her as she entered the carpark of her Kavanagh St apartment building.
He followed her in the lift, got out at her floor and asked her questions about where she was from, before grabbing her from behind.
The victim, who asked only to be referred to as Sarah, said the man placed one hand over her mouth and the other over her chest.
She said she feared she was about to be abducted and sexually assaulted.
After managing to open the door, she said she was relieved to see her roommate, an international student from Mongolia.
“My roomie was there, thanks to god she woke up and said, ‘what’s happened?’ And the man could see I wasn’t alone, and he escaped,” she said.
Sarah said she had been walking home alone from a nightclub in the city and was only aware of the man’s presence when got into the lift with her.
The incident had shattered her sense of confidence and security, she said.
“I am very scared and I feel very bad because I used to be a very strong woman, but I don’t feel the same and I really want to feel the same,” she said through tears.
Sarah has been studying English in Australia for five months but said she was now uncertain of whether she would stay.
Detective Acting Sergeant Michael Tobin described the offending as “brazen” and “calculated”.
“The fact that he’s followed her all the way to her apartment building and up to her apartment door is terrifying for her,” he said.
“By the look of it, it was going to escalate to something else. It just didn’t because she fought. She was able, by luck to get into her apartment.”
He said it was particularly lucky her housemate had accidentally left the door unlocked.
CCTV footage indicated the man had started following Sarah near the red steps on Southbank Boulevard.
He kept a distance of about five metres as he trailed her while hiding his face with his hoodie and deliberately steering clear from security cameras and lit-up areas.
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The last sighting from CCTV images showed him fleeing on foot toward the corner of Power St and City Rd.
Detectives were eager to speak to any witnesses or anyone who was driving in the area who had dashcam footage.
The offender is thought to be aged in his 20s, caucasian with a thin build, brown eyes, dark eyebrows and clean-shaven.
He was wearing a black hooded top, blue jeans, black runners with white edges and a black cap with a white logo.
Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.