Rape survivor reveals ordeal to encourage others to ‘be kind’

A woman has spoken about how she was tied up and repeatedly raped by a masked machete-wielding man while she was working as a holiday representative in Portugal.

Hazel Behan’s ordeal happened two weeks before her 21st birthday in 2004 but she told RTÉ broadcaster Ryan Tubridy yesterday she was not afraid to speak about it.

“Why let him win again? I am not going to give him the rest of my life,” she said.

Hazel, now 31, had been looking forward to a visit from her parents.

She lived in an flat in the hotel where she worked. She felt uneasy there but put it down to being on her own.

“I felt as if somebody had been in my room. I don’t know why. I just did,” she said.

Soon after, she discovered that the money she had saved up for her parent’s visit had been stolen and her possessions had been moved.

After a night out with friends, she fell asleep fully clothed on her bed.

She was woken by somebody calling her name and saw a man dressed in black and wearing a black leather mask. He was wielding a 12-inch machete. He spoke English with a German accent.

There was a struggle and the man took her from the bedroom and tied her to a small breakfast bar.

He told her not to scream and asked if she was scared. She was shaking but said she was not afraid, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was.

Hazel said he took out a bag full of whips and chains and used a scissors to cut off her clothes. He put some material in her mouth to stop her from screaming while he raped her for four hours.

When he put a sheet over her head, she thought she was going to be killed but instead the man left the flat.

With her hands still tied and naked, Hazel ran from her apartment and was helped by a group of men returning from a night out. They gave her their clothes so she could cover herself.

About 30 police arrived at the hotel but failed to track down her attacker. They brought back to her apartment, asked to strip off and stand with her arms out while they took photographs.

“After everything that had happened, that was the more degrading part,” said Hazel.

“They asked: ‘What was I wearing, was I very drunk, did I invite someone into my room?’ The only person who showed me care or compassion was the gynaecologist in the hospital.”

She is now back in Dublin and in a happy relationship with a man who understands what she has been through.

Hazel said she wanted to highlight what she had been through because she was not afraid to speak about it, and she wanted people to be mindful that there were people like her who have been raped, and to be kind.

Tubridy, who said he struggled to contain his anger as Hazel revealed her story, told her: “You’re an incredible woman, the way you have told your story — which is one that people need to hear. My heart broke listening to your story but it has been lifted by your extraordinary bravery.”