By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
POLICE have two Bahamian men in custody in connection with the alleged rape of a 15-year-old American tourist early Monday morning.
No details of the incident were released up to press time, but according to sources, the teen girl was staying at Comfort Suites, Paradise Island, with her mother when the incident occurred.
Sources say the teen was raped while in the parking lot of the hotel around 1:45am by two males she knew only by their first names. One of the men allegedly held her down while the other sexually assaulted her.
The Tribune understands that one man was taken into custody for questioning about an hour after the incident, he is said to be an employee of Comfort Suites.
Calls to the hotel were not returned up to press time.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Leon Bethel confirmed that police had two men in custody assisting them with their investigations, however he declined to release any details of in incident because of the age of the victim.
“We had a matter reported to us and it is under investigation. We have two men in custody,” he said.
“We can confirm that we are investigating the report of a rape, but I cannot say much more. Once a person is under age there is only so much information we can disclose. It is a sensitive matter, but I can say two persons are in custody, but I do know where they are employed. We need to be careful in terms of what we release because of the age of the girl and the alleged sexual assault.”
The United States Embassy is expected to release a statement on the incident today.
This latest attack on an American tourist comes one week after a US official was robbed while at the beach with his family.
A US Embassy spokesperson, last Sunday, confirmed that an employee and his family were visiting a beach in western New Providence when they were robbed by two men.
Embassy spokesperson Neda Brown said: “No weapons were utilised and the family was unharmed. The police are investigating the robbery. We continue to encourage US Embassy personnel and all American citizens resident or visiting The Bahamas to be consistently cognizant of their surroundings at all times to avoid being a victim of crime.”
It was not confirmed whether the Embassy employee was a diplomat or an American citizen.
In June, 74-year-old Vice Consul Kathleen Cayer was attacked and robbed as she walked to St Francis Xavier Cathedral on West Hill Street.
As she walked to the church to attend the 11 am mass, a man pushed her to the ground and stole her purse, cash and jewellery. Ms Cayer suffered minor injuries.
At the time, Acting Charge d’Affaires John Armstrong downplayed the impact that the recent attack on a senior diplomat might have on relations between the US and the Bahamas.
Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said: “We wish to express publicly our deep regret at this. We again recommit ourselves to fighting the scourge of crime. This kind of action does great harm to our country and we decry it in the strongest terms.”
Comments
ktsears 11 years, 2 months ago
What's up with the quotation marks around rape in the headline?
lazybor 11 years, 2 months ago
Good point, it looks unserious
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jackflash 11 years, 2 months ago
You guys are worried about quotation marks????
We should all be worried about this crime problem we have.
It will kill the tourism industry.
With the robbery of US embassy staff on a public beach last week and now this rape of a minor AND HAPPENING ON PI!!
The US is sure to issue a very stern travel advisory.
Heaven help us if something else happens to a visitor...
abacogrouper 11 years, 2 months ago
Right now, The Bahamas is not serious about crime. When we really hit that 'proverbial' wall; we will then pass and enforce laws that will put a serious dent into this foolishness.
Straight_Talk_Bahamas 11 years, 2 months ago
The problem is stuff like this happens all the time in The Bahamas... young girls are considered fair game if their bodies are developed. Nothing is done about it, so some Bahamian guys (18 to early 20s and even older sometimes) treat it as normal to pursue under-aged girls.
bahamasoapmama 11 years, 2 months ago
Exactly. Bahamian girls are not respected so why would a tourist girls be. We need to get to the root of this crime situation. The way we are living in this country is terrible. The value system that is becomming the norm is horrendous. We need to change to over all attitudes in this nation. The bad apples are taking over the crate and the good apples are getting sores.
242smt 11 years, 2 months ago
abacogrouper, it will be too late then. The tourist industry will have been destroyed. Right now, I would discourage anyone wanting to vacation in Nassau and would be cautious about recommending other islands.
positiveinput 11 years, 2 months ago
242smt I'm assuming stands for 242 suck my teeth. Would it be fair to discourage any Bahamian wanting to visit a Wal Mart seeing that one of our teenagers went missing from one of their locations.
banker 11 years, 2 months ago
False syllogism. Show me someone who was raped in Wal-Mart or robbed in Wal-Mart. There was a back story to this teen and it wasn't crime.
Samiam 11 years, 2 months ago
Hmmm use google please there have been several incidents.rape of the disabled and 3, 4 year old babies...I recall a incident not to long ago where a young girl was stalked and sexually assaulted in Walmart....come again. Unfortunately p.i is not utopia..I don't see why other islands of the bahamas would not be recommended, crimes against tourist are rare to none.
concernedcitizen 11 years, 2 months ago
our homocide rate is 6 and 1/2 times greater then the U/S ,,ON A PER CAPATIA BASIS YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED ,ROBBED ,OR RAPED HERE ,,,FACTS NOT HYPERBOLE
positiveinput 11 years, 2 months ago
@ banker - Would you stop going over Paradise Island because of what happened? Unfortunately bad things (crime) is going to take place as seen from the Bible Days. So to discourage visitors from coming would not even be the solution. Like abacogrouper stated when is crime going to be taken serious along with its punishment.
B_I_D___ 11 years, 2 months ago
Now...I am not condoning ANYTHING here...any sexual crime of this nature against any individual of any age is inexcusable...but I have to ask the question...you have an underage minor, at 1:45 in the morning, out in a parking lot with strangers...where are the parents? See it time and time again, the invincible tourist. Get on the island and just throw caution to the wind and do things they would never let happen in their own hometown. 15...really...I can tell you my 15 year old daughter will not be hanging out in some parking lot at 2am. Bad parenting combined with sexual predators...recipe for disaster...
Samiam 11 years, 2 months ago
Sounds fishy to me...why was she in the parking lot at that time "alone" ... Not downplaying the allegations but this is what I got from the story. Some fast teenager met up with some guys she met earlier and they were caught doing the nasty ..little poor Julie cries rape to get out of trouble. Shrugs hence "rape". Why would this young man risk his job risk being accused when the "victim" knows his name and where he works
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