• [Dailystar Icon]
• News
• Latest News
• Daily Star Sunday

Sun, sea and sex attacks: Shocking trend hitting Spain holiday resorts

[0_tenerife.jpg]

The beach at Playa de las Americas, Los Christianos, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

Sex attacks on British tourists have soared in Spain.

Last week one woman, 22, was reported to have been raped on Magaluf beach by a French tourist who threatened to drown her.

In a separate case another tourist from the UK was rescued by an off- duty policeman when two men tried to rape her on a beach in Playa de las Americas, Tenerife.

[0_medavia-rape-drug.jpg]

Briton Mollie Smith, 21, bravely told of her own terrifying ordeal in Valencia. The Newcastle University student woke up in a bush with no memory of how she got there.

Last month, police in Valencia arrested a Moroccan man over the rape of a British pensioner in Tenerife.

And last week, five French men were charged with gang-raping a Norwegian woman in a holiday apartment in Benidorm.

Last year, serious sexual assaults in Spain increased by 23%, according to government statistics. Police insiders fear this years figures have already spiralled out of control.

A Spanish journalist told the Daily Star Sunday: Its really not a good look. Briton Mollie Smith, 21, bravely told of her own terrifying ordeal in Valencia. The Newcastle University student woke up in a bush with no memory of how she got there.

[0_holidayrapedrug.jpg]

Suspicious needle mark

She later found a needle mark on her body and learned she had been drugged. Mollie said: I was just a mess, it was so terrifying. I felt violated in every way possible.

The student was on a night out with her friends at a club near her accommodation when she was targeted.

Mollie said: Wed been out about half an hour so Id maybe had one or two drinks, but then I have no recollection at all of what happened next.

The next thing I knew I was waking up in a bush, thinking, What the heck? I managed to flag down a taxi. The driver told me I was two hours away from Valencia.

It wasnt until Mollie was in the shower that she noticed a bruise on her leg, with a pinprick mark. Suddenly, she had a flashback to a man being between her legs.

She said: It was so vague and hazy. But I knew the mark on my leg was suspicious so later I went to the hospital.

I told them what happened, they immediately panicked. I was taken in a room, having intimate inspections, with the police there. It was awful.

[0_needle-syringe.jpg]

It wasnt until Mollie was in the shower that she noticed a bruise on her leg, with a pinprick mark. Suddenly, she had a flashback to a man being between her legs. (STOCK IMAGE)

Suddenly I was in the middle of this nightmare where they told me that there had been attacks like this in the area, with men injecting women with drugs to rape them. Mollies test results thankfully revealed she had not been raped, nor infected with any diseases. She said: I was incredibly lucky that something disturbed my attacker.

Id want to say to girls going out to Spain on holiday you dont think itll happen to you, but it does.

You need to look out for your girls, see if theyre acting out of character.

[0_tenerife.jpg]

Mollie was attacked in Tenerife, a popular location for Brits to go on holiday

Cecilia Gomez, a womens rights activist in Barcelona, claimed judges in Spain held old-fashioned views and have let attackers go free.

She said: You have old-school judges who clearly have a machista point of view, who have not been taught how to deal with sexual violence victims. If people do not directly say no, then it is looked at as consent.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: Nearly 19million British people visited Spain last year. Most visits are trouble-free. Personal attacks are rare but do occur. Be alert to the possible use of date rape and other drugs.

[Dailystar Icon]

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Choose Daily Star as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.