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Woman sexually assaulted by men as she rode bike

Two young men inappropriately touched a middle-aged woman as she rode on the back of her husband's bike.The woman, who is in her 50s, was repeatedly touched on the thigh when she was a pillion passenger travelling along Kindley Field Road in St. George's.Three men on two bikes are said to have worked together to “box in” the bike she and her husband were on.Two men on one of the bikes rode up alongside the left-hand side of the woman and her husband.The driver put the bike's throttle handle on the woman's left leg, then started to speed up and slow down so the handle rubbed up and down her thigh. The bike's pillion passenger also reached over and touched the woman's thigh.The woman shouted at the men to stop but they ignored her pleas and continued caressing her leg for about 30 seconds.The woman yelled: “Do you think this is funny?” and the pillion passenger replied “yeah” as he laughed.The victim's husband was unable to speed off as the man riding the second bike had positioned himself in front of them to block their way.The incident happened at about 5.30pm on April 3 as the couple headed home from the St. George's Sunday Market.The woman, who did not want to be named, said: “This wasn't something they did just for fun, it was deliberate harassment.“This was a co-coordinated effort by all three young men to be completely obnoxious.“The bike rider was using the throttle of his bike to rub up and down my leg. The passenger was also touching my leg, I could see his face, and he was grinning the entire time.“I'm so disappointed that this happened. It was so well planned, it amounts to sexual harassment as well as dangerous driving.”The men, who were all black and aged in their late teens or early 20s, sped off across the Causeway after the incident. There was no other traffic on this stretch of road at the time.The woman, who is a mom-of-one, said she remained “extremely angry” that the young men had struck in daylight.She said: “When they came so close, I was wondering what the heck are they doing?“I just thought they were being silly kids, then I couldn't believe what happened.“They had boxed us in, we couldn't go anywhere. I couldn't push them away or there would have been a terrible accident.“But this had the potential to be a really disastrous situation if we had reacted physically.”The woman said she first became aware of the two bikes travelling behind them as they headed over the Swing Bridge towards the St David's roundabout.Then on Kindley Field Road the bike with one man on it swerved towards them, coming within just five inches of them before speeding off.The man was seen to look back and it is now thought he was checking out who was on the bike.The woman said she thought it was “just another idiot on the road” until the incident took place about a minute later as they approached the airport roundabout.The couple didn't want to stop by the side of the road in case the men spotted them so they headed straight home.The woman then made a statement to police officers at St. David's Police Station and they handed over one of the bike's registration plate numbers.The woman now wants to warn other females to be on their guard against men who pull up alongside their bikes “with ulterior motives.”She said: “These men knew what they were doing. They've obviously got nothing better to do than harass people.“They were young guys who were ever so cocky. They were rude and arrogant in their attitudes. They just grinned at me.“I am middle-aged, but I'd hate this to happen to a young girl. People need to be warned that this has happened.”She added: “If this happens to you, you have to call the police. We can't let them get away with it, we can't tolerate this behaviour, and we can't let them run rampant.”A Police spokesman said officers were conducting inquiries and individuals were currently assisting detectives with their enquiries.He said: “There do not appear to be any similar incidents reported to police recently.“However, motorists are advised to report any suspicious activity on the island's roads to the nearest Police Station at their earliest opportunity with details of the offending vehicle/s if possible.”Witnesses or anyone with any information about the incident at about 5.30pm on Sunday, April 3 should contact the St. George's Criminal Investigation Unit on 293-2222.