A BRITISH 19-year-old has revealed she was mobbed and groped in a 30-man sex attack who threatened to rape her.
The victim of the horror ordeal in Milan said she was targeted by an “organised” group of men she didn’t know as she celebrated New Year’s with friends.
NF/newsXFootage of the celebrations on New Year’s Eve in the Piazza del Duomo shows the chaos[/caption]
RexCrowds gather to celebrate New Year’s in Piazza Duomo[/caption]
EPAItalian police stand guard near the Duomo di Milano cathedral during the New Year’s celebrations in Milan[/caption]
The teen had spend the evening with two male friends from England and a group of six Belgian students they had met in Italy.
They headed to the Piazza del Duomo for the fireworks, when what should have been an evening of celebrations turned into a heinous sex attack.
In a harrowing testimony, the Brit describes being “grabbed and pulled back” as she passed through a busy crowd surrounded by roughly 30 men she didn’t know.
She said: “They held my arms, my hands. I couldn’t defend myself.”
The teen recounted how “several men, at the same time,” began to grope her “while another tried to pull up my dress”.
She added: “I was struggling to get free, and they were enjoying my distress.”
The 19-year-old said that one man tried to sexually assault her with his hands and claims another said about raping her.
She chillingly revealed that the attackers “enjoyed” her distressed as she “panicked and fought for freedom,” – which “only excited my attackers”.
The Brit explained the how she had to “fight to survive” in the “dehumanising” ordeal, adding that she escaped and was saved by her friends when she started screaming.
After returning safely back to the UK, the 19-year-old said she is struggling to regain her confidence and her faith in humanity after experiencing the feeling she was going to be killed or raped in a country she thought was safe.
Talking to Belgian media, she said: “I am broken-hearted to have to fight this battle at the very beginning of my adult life.”
The Brit said there was no police presence at the bustling scene when they arrived.
And men in balaclavas had been captured dangerously shooting fireworks into the crowd before the clock had even struck midnight.
The 19-year-old explained how she and a pal had left the group to find a toilet when she felt a man attempting to grope her and pulling at her dress as she went through the plaza.
She said she lost the man in the packed crowd after trying to ignore the vile attention.
Speaking of the events with Sudinfo and MailOnline, the teen said she felt unsafe going through the crowd and that authorities had made no attempt to organise the chaotic event.
Just before the New Year’s countdown, the girls in the group said they felt uncomfortable, sharing that they had felt men touching them.
The 19-year-old said: “On our way back to find the group after the bar, we were more cautious, but reunited with the others quickly.
EPAPolice vehicles stand near the Duomo di Milano cathedral during the New Year’s celebrations[/caption]
EPASpectators gather at the Duomo Square during the celebrations[/caption]
“However, this was when I began to feel unsafe – every man we passed stared at us, and I felt trapped among them.
“Around two minutes from midnight, the girls began to share that they were also uncomfortable and had felt men beginning to touch them.
“However, by this point, there was no escape and we were forced to stand next to our male friends for safety and wait for the fireworks.
“This was our biggest mistake.”
The teen explained that as the boys in their group got “distracted” and “pulled out their phones to record the New Year countdown,” she was grabbed and pulled from her friends – marking the beginning of the heinous attack.
As she bravely fought back against the men attacking her, the Brit said she was injured and left bleeding.
But the teen said she had an “unknown liquid” thrown over her which caused her eyes and nosed to sting, leaving her and her pals “feeling as though we couldn’t breathe”.
She added: “Every man I passed, around 40, made some attempt to grope me, pull up my dress, separate me from my friends or fight me.”
The teen and her pals were saved “only by adrenaline and the bravery of my friends” as they desperately fled the crowd.
Just as they thought they were safe for a brief moment, the attackers caught up and began punching her friend, she claims.
It was at this moment that the teen was grabbed again and separated from the group.
The 19-year-old explained how she heard the screams of another English woman next to her, who she said was being held and sexually assaulted by the group.
She bravely tried to intervene and the screaming woman was able to break free – but the attackers then turned their anger back towards her.
The teen and her friends were able to attempt an escape as the commotion caused the crowd to disperse.
But the attackers caught up to the group and grabbed her body while laughing.
After finally being able to escape the horrific ordeal, they searched “desperately” for the police which appeared to scare off the attackers.
The teen said there were no police at the square and when they did eventually find officers they allegedly said there was “nothing they could do”.
She said: “When I showed them bloodied injuries I had on my arms and explained I and many other women had been sexually assaulted, their attitude changed.”
Cops then called in for backup and took a full statement before a female cop consoled her and said that this was a “known problem and our attackers were Bangladeshi men”.
Italian media reported at the time that the men had been identified only as being second-generation North African men.
EPAItalian police officers patrol the city center amid security checks by law enforcement[/caption]
EPASpectators gather at the Duomo Square during the New Year’s celebrations in Milan[/caption]
The 19-year-old said she wanted to tell her story to “dispel some of the disinformation being shared online and ensure our story is heard”.
She said that the attack “is also not a reflection of all Bangladeshi people, or people non-native to Italy”.
The 19-year-old added: “This was an organised group of disgusting men, who deserve to suffer the consequences of their actions.”
The teen said she was met with “kindness” by locals who helped them walk home in the city after the incident.
She added that she is currently in the process of filing a legal complaint via the Italian embassy in England.
Investigators are also currently speaking to other women to understand the full “scale” of the attack.
How to report a sexual assault
Contact a doctor or practice nurse at your GP surgery.
Contact a voluntary organisation, such as Rape Crisis, Women’s Aid, Victim Support, The Survivors Trust or Male Survivors Partnership.
Call the 24-hour freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge, on 0808 2000 247.
Speak to the rape and sexual abuse support line run by Rape Crisis England and Wales – you can call the helpline on 0808 500 2222 or use the online chat (both are free and are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year).
