Tourist gang-raped during Brazil kidnapping

An American woman was gang-raped and beaten while her French boyfriend was shackled, hit with a crowbar, and forced to watch the attacks in Rio de Janeiro.

A third man, aged 21, was arrested for the attacks, which took place on a public tranport van in the showcase Copacabana beach neighbourhood over six hours, starting shortly after midnight on Saturday, police said yesterday in a statement. Two men aged 20 and 22 had already been taken into custody for the attacks.

A young Brazilian woman has also come forward to say she was raped by the same men in the van on Mar 23.

“The victims described everything in great detail, mostly the sexual violence,” police officer Rodrigo Brant told the Globo TV network. “Just how they described the facts was shocking — the violence and brutality.

“It surprised even us, who work in security and are used to hearing such things. Their report shocked us.”

The incidents raise new questions about security in Rio, which has cracked down on drug violence in preparation for hosting next year’s football World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

The city will also play host to World Youth Day, a Catholic pilgrimage that will be attended by Pope Francis and is expected to draw some 2m people in late July.

Officials from the local Olympic and World Cup organising committees did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The attack also drew comparisons with the fatal December beating and gang rape of a young woman on a New Delhi bus.

Six men beset the 23-year-old student and her male friend after they boarded the bus, sparking a wave of protests across India demanding stronger protection for women.

In the Brazil attack, police said the suspects forced other passengers to get out of the van and then sexually assaulted the female tourist inside the vehicle, which was one of a fleet of vans that serve bus routes.

During the alleged assault, the tourists were driven to the poor suburban neighbourhood of Sao Goncalo, where the two suspects were apprehended, the statement from police said.

Reports said the two foreigners had been studying Portuguese in Rio for about a month and that both left Brazil following the attack.

The police statement said one victim’s mobile phone was found in the suspects’ possession. The suspects had also used one of the victim’s debit cards at two petrol stations, it said.

The Globo television network broadcast CCTV images of two men filling up the white van and showed police images of a metal bar the suspects are thought to have used in the attack. The victims positively identified the suspects, and a Brazilian woman said she was assaulted by the men on Mar 23.