Woman punched, sexually assaulted as men hurl abuse at her in Melbourne laneway, police say

 

  Photo: The 20-year old woman was walking home from work when she was attacked. (AAP: Melissa Meehan)

 

Map: Melbourne 3000

 

A woman has been sexually assaulted by a man while three others hurled verbal abuse at her in a laneway in Melbourne's CBD.

The 20-year-old woman was walking home from work along Latrobe Street when she stopped at the entrance of Eagle Alley to get cigarettes from her bag around 11:50pm on March 10.

Addie, which is not her real name, said she did not hear the men come up behind her.

"I had my headphones in, music really loud so as soon as I was actually approached from behind and felt the guy behind me, that's when I realised something was up," she said.

"He came across very aggressively from the start.

It was a very scary thing to be in that situation, something I'd never imagined myself having to deal with.

Victim of sexual assault

"The way in which they were speaking was very inappropriate, very threatening."

Addie said she was grabbed by the skirt and sexually assaulted before being punched in the face when she tried to fight back.

"In reaction to that, I've attacked him and just bolted," she said.

"I had a pretty bad black eye for a few weeks, that was it luckily for me."

Addie said the other men were leering in the background as she was attacked.

"There were four of them and one of me — being fully grown men, they should know better," she said.

Addie said she was now too frightened to walk home from work.

"I always catch a taxi home now, as difficult as it is to get one, but definitely taxis from now on," she said.

"It was a very scary thing to be in that situation, something I'd never imagined myself having to deal with so, very nerve-wracking."

 

 

Photo: Police have released this image of a man they want to speak to in relation to the assault. (Supplied: Victoria Police)

 

The four men are described as Caucasian, in their mid 30s and were wearing dress shirts and jeans at the time of the assault.

Detective Sergeant Shane Manuell said they have not been able to obtain any CCTV of the attack or the men responsible.

"We've searched high and low in relation to CCTV but we're also appealing to anyone who may have CCTV from their businesses or in that area, if they could come forward and let us know that'd be great," he said.

"All she was doing was walking home from work and this has happened so it's something we're taking extremely seriously."

abc.net.au 2 Apr 2015

Thankfully for the Australian government's thoughtful action in terms of crime prevention, namely the government decided to keep people's 'metadata' to solve crime.

Now we can all be assured that the perpetrators of this disgraceful crime will be caught.