Police Detective Inspector Ashley Nicholas and DS 149 Kieran McGrath in the pedestrian walkway leading from St Julian’s Avenue along Beauregard Lane, where a young woman was seriously sexually assaulted early on Saturday. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0745233)
POLICE are warning women to be on their guard, following a serious sexual assault at the weekend.
Investigations are continuing into the assault on an 18-year-old girl, which happened at 2.30am on Saturday morning in a pedestrian walkway leading from St Julian’s Avenue along Beauregard Lane.
‘This was an appalling attack on a lone young woman walking home after an evening spent with friends in the St Peter Port area, where an alleged serious sexual assault was carried out on her, causing her significant distress,’ said Detective Inspector Ashley Nicholas, head of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Detectives from the department are continuing to speak to witnesses and are viewing CCTV from the vicinity.
Inspector Nicholas said people should take extra precautions if they are out walking, jogging or cycling alone in the dark.
‘I would like to reassure the public that this is an isolated incident and is, fortunately, not a common crime within the Bailiwick. The message that I would like to reinforce is that anyone walking home alone needs to be aware of their environment and take suitable measures to ensure their own safety, which would include being safe and seen during the hours of darkness,’ he said.
Officers had sealed off the area by 4am following the attack for scenes of crime officers to conduct forensic enquiries.
Police described the attacker as white, in his mid-20s, 5ft 3in. to 5ft 4in. tall and of average build.
He was wearing dark clothing that included jeans, had short cropped hair and spoke clearly in English. The young woman is 5ft 2in. tall with shoulder-length brown hair and was wearing a short, royal blue dress with thin shoulder straps and black shoes.
She was carrying a black shoulder bag and short black jacket.
Following the attack the offender is believed to have run up the lane and may have come out back into St Julian’s Avenue or continued up the path towards the entrance to La Fregate Hotel which leads to Les Cotils and Cambridge Park, the Priaulx Library and Candie Cache stores.
Police are appealing for witnesses or anyone who may have information about the incident to come forward, particularly those who were near the Ribshack in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Article posted on 24th March, 2009 - 2.30pm
32 Article Comments
18 year old girl, 2.30 in the morning, alone, dark ally, there’s some very nasty people around, we all know that, she knew that, why do it ?
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Are you a member of the Taleban? Why not have all women locked up under curfew for their own safety. What an idiotic comment. You’re as good as saying that she was asking for it. Why not worry about the catching the pervert instead of criticising the poor girl involved.
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Shame on you it should be safe to walk alone at anytime day or night !!!!
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I agree with you Gordon !
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Conrad, you’re an idiot.
We’ve all done it at some time or other. You lose your friends, run out of money, just take a chance. I’ve taken much worse risks than this in worse places than Guernsey. Do you think girls enjoy walking home alone in the dark in risky areas? Should we live our lives expecting to be attacked?
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conrad get a grip. She has the right to walk around the streets safely, just the same as anyone – man or woman. Yes there are nasty people around but this is Guernsey and you should be able to feel relatively safe. I find your comment offensive. She walks the street to get home after a night out, it’s the risk every woman takes (she knew that), can you understand the implications of your remark? It makes me so angry that woman are not safe, even in Guernsey, and then we start getting plain igorant comments like yours. Just go and think about it a bit more before you even suggest for a nano second that a woman is responsible for an attack, as you infer, because “there are some nasty people around”. Let’s keep the trash off the streets and in prison.
I hope the Police find this person and we can send him to prison and that the girl does not suffer any permanent trauma and emotional damage from this terrible assault. Guernsey is a small community – pull together.
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Its not a ridiculous comment – those were my exact thoughts on the incident. What has happened to this girl is appalling but the point remains she should not have been walking alone through the lanes of St Peter Port, or anywhere, on her own at that time in the morning.
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Danielle & Conrad, I am afraid I do not understand why you say she should not have been walking there. Sexual assualts are extremely rare in Guernsey and so there is little logical or rational justification for saying that she should have taken other measures. She could have waited at the cab rank for 2 hours, or got a friend to walk home with her and then waited ages to get a cab for that friend, but these are pretty extreme measures for her to take every time she stays out late when the risk of this happening was extremely small. We cannot govern our lives by taking measures against all risks than CAN happen, no matter how unlikely, because if we did that we would never live. If this was South East London, then you would have a point – not because she was in any way responsible for what happened, but merely because the risk was sufficiently high that it was foolish of her to have taken it. But this is not SE London, it is Guernsey, and although this island is not perfect it is a fact that these events are extremely rare, meaning that she could not have expected that this would happen. I do not think that any criticism can be aimed at the unfortunate girl. She deserves our support for this isolated breaking of the bubble that is Guernsey.
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Sorrey Danielle it should be safe to walk at any time day or night–just a thought the anti car have-nots say get a bus or walk I wonder what thay think ?? would thay feel safe walking alone ??
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Why not sue the Police for being negligent and not maintaining Law and Order?
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Firstly-what a disgusting thing to happen-outragous and truly horrific for the girl concerned. And before i say my next piece i truly find this thing abhorrent! However this whole “this is guernsey” mindset is ridiculous – it is a sad diagnosis of our society, agreed, but we really are not the safe little community we used to be-fact! We should all feel safe to walk around any time day or night – but that is not the world we live in-like or not we must accept it and become savvy to it! It is the fact that so many people thing its only guernsey and have this complacency that makes it very easy for the sick and perverted to carry out these attacks with such ease – do not kid youself that this is the only attack that has happened for the last year or so – many more attacks happen that go unreported – in such a small community people feel ashamed and often choose to suffer in silence rather then report the attacks! We all need to remain vilgilant and support each other and keep our ears and eyes open to this kind of thing and do anything we can to make sure that the people doing this sort of thing are punished by the law. Mayb we can get the safe little haven of guernsey back one day – but i wouldnt count on it.
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Hello!!! is everyone forgetting the point that a young girl was attacked?!
forget what time she walking home, forget about the fact she was alone, the fact is some freak decided to enter her personal space and attack her, she didnt ask for it! no woman or man does but it happens and people should respect that, this girl is someone’s daughter, and they are trying to gain faith back in to their daughter that the Guernsey isnt full of freaks and idiots that think its alright to do this! She will have to live with this for the rest of her life, you lot bitching about it will forget by next week but she wont! have a thought for her tonight when ur nice and warm tucked up in bed, she might be crying herself to sleep! u lot should be ashamed of yourselves.
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Crikey, the responses here are almost scary! I totally agree with Danielle and Conrad, obviously, what happened is horrific, but people need to have the common sense to avoid dark, quiet lanes late at night!! If my geography is right, she could have just walked along the front by the QE2 marina. Well-lit and busy…
The fact is, there are idiots out there and Guernsey isn’t an Enid Blyton story anymore, there’re violent assaults EVERY weekend and this sort of thing is inevitable, perhaps the reason it doesn’t happen more often is that people have previously exercised some common sense.
To all those who protest the right to be safe anywhere, at anytime, can I recommend a fact-finding trip to the North Plantation at about 3am on a Saturday or Sunday morning? Stand there with the drunken chavs for ten minutes and tell me you feel safe.
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You are all right, people SHOULD be safe to walk around day and night but the sad fact is that they are not. At 2:30 in the morning, quite possibly drunk and quite possibly dressed for a night, out this person was vulnerable. Yes, the police SHOULD take dangerous individuals off the streets but if they are as understaffed as they claim to be this may not be possible. I realise that sexual assaults of this kind are rare (or rather statistics tell us that they are rare) every weekend there are stories (reported and on the grapevine) of assault. She should not have been walking alone.
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In addition my comments should not be read as “she was asking for it” that is not the intention of my post.
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>>She has the right to walk around the streets safely, just the same as anyone – man or woman<<
She does indeed have a right. As I have a right to step on to a zebra crossing and expect traffic to stop. I can exercise my right and if I get knocked over it will be the drivers fault. However, I am cautious and choose to look left and right before exercising my right.
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Just look at the aggressiveness of most of your reply’s to my post. comments of the ignorant and naive.
Just slowly read Student Bob’s post again.
What the world should be and what it is are two different things.
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Conrad and Student Bob– that is just the point it should be safe day or night-so why is it not safe? maybe get rid of the do-gooders and come down very hard on offenders or trouble makers-from what you say there are areas that are known to be unsafe-why do your police allow this?
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Conrad the behaviour of a few chavs does not make them sex offenders does it? We are not talking about a few drunks swearing and being anti-social after too many drinks around Town. Let’s be blunt, we are talking about a man who has violated a woman, irrespective of her right to walk freely, down dark alley ways. I am not naive or ignorant by any stretch of the imagination. I have lived in London for years, traveled around the world and now I live in the Middle East, both have no-go areas, sadly, yes, that is the way of the world, and yes, what we want and what we have are two different things. I still say every man and woman has the right to walk freely. DId this girl live in this area, was she taking a short cut? I don’t know the details of the case, but the sadder side of this story is that every woman takes the chance and in Guernsey, where crime is rare or petty, you should be able to walk home without this happening. If a crime does happen like this, then it’s pretty irrelevant and “NAIVE” to suggest that she should have known the risks. Chavs are another matter – just a nuisance and a reflection of the breakdown of moral code in the UK. Shame.
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Bottom line is that Guernsey isnt as safe as most people think. there are alot of unspoken attacks that occur, to save the islands reputation. We dont even know the full story, so i dont think that anyone can make a precise conclusion.
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Further to that, it’s obviously better to be safe than sorry.
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Sexual assault is an extremely serious crime. The time & where it occurs does not lessen the severity of the crime.
Seriously student bob and conrad – think about what message you are sending? Fair enough take extra precautions where you can, but almost every road in Guernsey is a dark alley by world standards. I suppose thats why we all drive everywhere – we are just all being extra cautious in case we are attacked right?
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Ron – Why don’t the police act? Good question. I don’t have an answer.
Dolly, that there is violent crime every single weekend is a fact. It’s reported in the press, or you could ask a policeman or paramedic how they spend their weekends. Do you understand the primordial mindset that drives one man (or woman) to stab, assault or ‘glass’ another human being? Is it too much of a stretch of imagination to assume that the dysfunction that culminates in violent assault could not also end with sexual assault?
I agree that every man or woman has a right to walk freely without let or hindrance but as you say, the society in which we live dictates that you might want to walk freely somewhere else, or a little more quickly in some areas.
Guernsey needs to be educated and understand that assault is not a “one off”. It happens often, whether violent or sexual and is a product of the society we have created. Responsibility for this education lies with the media, to report on these events and let’s hope that vulnerable groups take heed.
Jackie – great post!!
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i think th fact of the matter is that no matter where u live attacks happen. and its sad cause guernsey is classed as a small island.. but that aint gonna stop attacks on people. guernsey is becoming more like the uk now.. gone are the days when u could leave ur door open. the only thing in guernsey that hasnt changed is the fact that gossip still exsists. i guess because its a small place.
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>>guernsey is becoming more like the uk now<< I’m not sure about that.
Just avoid the English, I can comfortably say I have no English economic immigrant friends and have no intention of making any.
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This is very very sad. Extremely traumatic for the victim and I hope that she has access to adequate counselling and treatment. With the advent of DNA one can hope that her assailant will be caught. There are supposed to be so many cameras around the town area I am surprised nothing showed up or no one heard anything. The Rib Shack is usually teaming with people at that time of the morning – night club chuck out time.
Gueurnsey is a small place and there must be someone somewhere who knows something – let’s just hope they have the gumption to report any concerns. Good Luck to the police in finding this evil man and getting him locked up as soon as possible. My prayers are with the victim of this awful crime.
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Re. Jackie’s comment >>Just avoid the English, I can comfortably say I have no English economic immigrant friends and have no intention of making any.<<
Are you blaiming the English for this horrific attack?
How narrow minded & ignorant can you be?! If it wasn’t for the English your island wouldn’t exist. If the tourists and “economic immigrants” left your island then the place would shut down immediately.
No air links… No sea links… Think about that the next time you buy some food or clothing or go on holiday – via England no doubt…
I lived in Guernsey for 8 years and still visit friends there regularly. I’m SO glad that you are not representitive of 99.9% of the Guerns I’ve had the pleasure to meet…
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Saint George
You will find that Jackie often posts ‘tongue in cheek’ comments, although this particular one was more ‘foot in mouth ‘
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St George; I echo Ray’s comments.
It is awful for the victim and their family and friends, but also give some thought to the Police Officers and medical staff who will have to also be involved.
Sexual assault is deplorable and the scrote who did this deserves the long arm of the law.
The comments on this site about what time the person was attacked make my blood boil – how dare you infer she brought it upon herself you thoughtless morons. Teenagers should be entitled to socialise in town, have a drink and a good time, then go home safely.
I wish the ‘educated’ west was more like the east and we could cut off their appendages or string them up. Cowards.
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Hmmmmmmm. Someone called ‘Saint George’ that states ‘If it wasn’t for the English your island wouldn’t exist.’
After me everyone: ‘Land of ho-oope and glo-r-eeee, mother of the freeee…’
You got to love a patriot ;)
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Please do not try to make believe Guernsey is free from Crime, the place has become awful in the last 10 years, You want to be part of the UK but when something occurs blame it on the UK or foreign visitors, Guernsey I doubt could survive without, just how many locals still live on the Island. Does not alter the fact no one is safe alone, day or night.
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>>Does not alter the fact no one is safe alone, day or night.<<
Now you are just being silly.
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