Manhunt launched as British vacationer ‘repeatedly raped by taxi driver’ in Paris
WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: A British woman was allegedly repeatedly raped by a taxi driver in Paris over the weekend after a night out with pals, sparking a major police investigation and a manhunt for the attacker
An urgent manhunt has been launched after a British tourist was ‘repeatedly raped’ by a taxi driver after a night out. Police in Paris are searching for the attacker after the young woman was sexually assaulted in the French capital on Saturday morning.
Cops were called at around 7.30am after the woman was found “crying and in a state of shock” in a resident’s garden after finally being able to escape her attacker, French newspaper Le Figaro reported.
Officers rushed to the scene in Bois de Boulogne, one of the city’s western suburbs before scouring CCTV and making door-to-door inquiries.
Police have launched an investigation after a British woman was allegedly raped in Paris (stock)(Image: Getty Images)
Police patrols were still searching for the driver on Monday, local media said. An investigating source said the victim spent “an enjoyable night out in Paris on Saturday” before leaving a group of friends and getting into a taxi.
But instead of being driven to her hotel, she was allegedly taken to the Rue de la Muette, a road in the centre of the Bois, where sex workers congregate in cars and vans until the early hours.
Paris prosecutors supported by detectives from the city’s 1st Judicial Police opened a rape investigation on Sunday after receiving a phone call from the woman.
The source said the attack only ended when she “escaped from the car after being repeatedly raped”, adding that she “ended up in the garden of a house in Neuilly-sur-Seine.”
Neuilly, the upmarket Paris suburb, contains a number of houses with gardens bordering the Bois du Boulogne. The victim was treated for injuries by medics and then taken to the Raymond Poincare University Hospital nearby for further tests and for police interviews, it was reported.
It comes after a 34-year-old British tourist was raped after being drugged by a man she met in a Paris bar last August.
The woman was found by friends who reported her missing after a night out, also in the 16th arrondissement.
She told police that her next memory was waking up in an unfamiliar room, before realising she had been raped.
Just a month earlier, harrowing security footage revealed the moment a visibly distressed Australian woman sought refuge inside a Paris kebab shop after being gang raped.
A man then walks into the restaurant before the alleged victim gestures ‘that’s him’ before he was confronted by staff and diners. The France-Scotland rugby match attracted thousands of British visitors to Paris at the weekend, as did a number of concerts and other cultural events.
The Daily Star has contacted the FCDO for a comment.
If you or somebody you know has been affected by this story, contact Victim Support for free, confidential advice on 08 08 16 89 111 or visit their website.
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