I am still running

…at around 12:30am, May 4, 2017, when I was already sleeping, a man accessed my villa. When I opened my eyes I saw the attacker’s face and a knife. Threatening me with the knife, the intruder forced himself on me and repeatedly raped me. I was trying to escape the villa and once or twice managed to open the door and make several steps outside. However, the rapist took me back to the villa threatening me with the knife. Number of times he said that he would kill me. I was screaming loud but apparently, due to the size of the resort and remote location of my villa no one could hear me. After an hour and a half of our struggle and him rapping me, I managed to escape the villa and run to the hotel reception.
It took me almost 20 minutes to get to the restaurant area, where I thought I could find the resort security. However, nobody was there. I was crying out and knocking at all doors. It took me another 20 minutes to find security. The chief staff of security went back to the villa and the rapist was still there. They seized him at the garden of my villa trying to escape but they told me they could not find the knife.

At around 2.30am they went to my villa and captured the rapist in the garden of the villa. However, as they told me later, they could not find the knife.

I asked the executive assistant manager, to immediately call the police. It was only later that I found out that she never called the police. Then she brought me to another villa to rest until the morning.

In the morning, at around 9.30am, I had a conversation with the PR agent managing the tour, who also stayed at the resort in a different villa (I have a recording of this conversation) and with the General Manager. He shocked me by suggesting that I myself invited the man to the villa and that no rape actually took place. He also mentioned that the resort’s management had not called the police. We subsequently called the police and they arrived from the nearby island shortly.

That was almost eight hours after I had reported the crime to the resort. The police was surprised that they had not been called earlier to the crime scene and confirmed that they were working 24 hours and hence would be contactable at the time the offense took place.

That morning I also saw the resort’s co-owner, who I hoped would help me with my very difficult and stressful situation. Instead, she continued to offend me by asking whether I had experienced some pleasure that night.

Upon their arrival, the police assigned two female officers who helped me to file a statement. The attacker was identified as a housekeeper working for resort.

I left the Seychelles the same night. No apology or support was ever offered by the hotel’s management.