A 23-year-old British policewoman has been raped at knifepoint in Paris, France, at the base of the city’s iconic Eiffel Tower.
The young woman, visiting the socialist-run city with a friend, was reportedly relieving herself behind a bush when the attacker pounced. He pulled the knife on her when she attempted to resist, and fled the scene after completing his attack.
He was found and arrested roughly an hour later, however, with the authorities describing him as “unbalanced”.
Despite its status as the home of France’s best-known landmark, the Champ-de-Mars where the Eiffel Tower is based has long been a haunt of dangerous criminals. Three Algerians were arrested for gang-raping a French woman in the park in July, and two Brazilian sisters were attacked in February.
Reports in both the British and French press avoided offering any physical description of the man who attacked the British policewoman, nor information on his nationality and background, describing him only as a 35-year-old.
