Okay, this might be the most depressing story I’ve ever covered. It kind of makes me feel sick, if I’m completely honest. A 17-year-old girl was sexually assaulted three separate times by three different attackers or groups of attackers in the span of an hour on Friday, September 29th, after becoming separated from the group of friends she was visiting a club with. The assaults all occurred in the Tower Hamlets borough of London, as reported by The Daily Telegraph.
Police said her ordeal started shortly before midnight on Friday September 29 when she was picked up on camera being carried by a man in Cambridge Heath Road.
The pair are then seen appearing to go into a doorway in the same road, after which the man, who was wearing dark clothing, is not seen again on camera.
Items of the top half of the girl’s clothing were subsequently found nearby.
That’s a bad enough ordeal for anyone, but it doesn’t end there.
Shortly after midnight, another CCTV camera picks up the girl stumbling down Mint Street, being followed by a different, bearded male, on a racing bicycle.
Officers said the man followed the teenager along Mint Street, into Three Colts Lane, and then as she heads in the direction of Bethnal Green Overground station.
When the next camera picks her up, the man has approached her and they have reached Corfield Street.
Some time later, the camera picks up the man leaving the area and walking away.
The girl, whose clothing appears dishevelled, emerges shortly afterwards and goes further down Corfield Street.
Okay, so this can’t possibly get any worse, right? Well, it gets worse.
Just minutes later, at around 12.45am, detectives believe the victim suffered a third attack, possibly involving two or three men.
The CCTV captures a third, different man walking down Corfield Street and joining two other figures under some trees. He appears to bend down towards a spot on the kerb in between some parked cars.
Detectives believe it was at this point that the victim was sexually assaulted.
I don’t even know what to say here. I think I’m just going to start rooting for global warming or maybe a big comet. It’s Friday, I just wrote about a horrible sex crime… anyone want to see some cat pictures? I think maybe if we look at some cute cats on Instagram the suicidal feeling might pass.
No, I’m still depressed. I just found out the right wing is using this story as anti-Muslim propaganda because Tower Hamlets has a large Muslim community, despite the attackers and their motives not having been identified yet. I’m going to need way more kittens.
Okay, that’s the number of kittens I needed. I think I can get through the weekend now.