Brazil gang rape victim gives TV interview

The victim – who cannot be identified – spoke on Brazilian television

A teenage girl who says she was gang raped by dozens of men has spoken of her ordeal in a television interview.

The 16-year-old was attacked in a slum in Rio de Janeiro on 21 May, and two men have been arrested so far.

Speaking to a local television channel she said: “I fell asleep and woke up in a different place with a man underneath me, another one on top and two other holding my hands and several people laughing at me. Also, I was drugged and confused.

“There were many people armed and many boys laughing and talking.

“There were adults and not only boys. Now they judge me and blame me.

“They robbed me. They robbed me but not of any material property but of physical property.”

The victim said that she was assaulted by 33 men in total.

Police say they have no doubt the assault happened but that tests on the victim were done too late to provide conclusive evidence.

Prosecutors say that one of the two men arrested – Rai de Souza, 22 and Lucas Perdomo Duarte Santos, 20 – may have been the victim’s boyfriend.

The assault came to light after several men joked about it on the internet – sharing photos and videos of the unconscious and naked girl on Twitter and WhatsApp.

The attack shocked Brazilians, and threw the spotlight on the problem of violence against women in the country.

On Sunday hundreds of women demonstrated in front of the Justice Ministry building in Brasilia.

Brazil’s interim president Michel Temer has announced that an institution for women’s rights will be created in the aftermath of the outrage.

During the city’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics, Rio’s mayor assured the International Olympic Committee its violent crime rate would be reduced by the time tourists and athletes arrived.

In another case, a group of at least five men are reported to have drugged and raped a 17-year-old girl in the northeastern state of Piaui. SkyNews.com