By: Licec Bastian

Police are on the hunt for two male suspects believed to be responsible for sexually
assaulting a 31-year-old woman on Monday night.
The incident occurred in western New Providence sometime around 7pm. Police say
the victim reported that she was in the company of a man known to her, when she was
taken to an unfamiliar location; while there, they were met by a second male suspect
and subsequently both males allegedly sexually assaulted the woman before robbing
her of her cellphone and an undetermined amount of cash.
According to police statistics, in 2022 39 percent of rape victims knew the assailant;
with 90 percent of unlawful sexual intercourse victims knowing their assailant.
This latest sexual assault comes just months after National Security Minister Wayne
Munroe acknowledged, back in June, that while overall crime was down thirty
percent, rapes were up 64 percent here in New Providence.
Since June, police have reported a number of sexual assaults against women and girls,
particularly in July when a number of females fell victim to either being coaxed into
getting into a vehicle with an unknown person or being assaulted after a night out.
On Saturday July 29th, a nine-year-old girl and a 40-year-old female were sexually
assaulted merely hours a part.
The child, while playing outside her home on Lazaretto Road, around 6pm was
beckoned to get inside a male’s vehicle. She complied and was taken to an unknown
location where she was threatened and sexually assaulted. She was later found in the
area of Spikenard Road.
As for the 40-year-old woman, she fell victim after a night of socializing at a bar with
a male she knows. The incident occurred at the woman’s home on Golden Isles Road
around 3am
Minister Munroe has called the increase in rapes troubling.
The increase this year also comes as Parliamentarians debated and passed the
Protection Against Violence Bill, 2023.