The third alleged serious sexual crime against women in the space of a week has caused concern in the local community, two local female MLAs have said.
The latest reported sexually motivated crime occurred in the Drumahoe area, just outside the city in the Waterside, on Friday night when a woman was punched to the side of the head, pulled into trees in a nearby park and forced to the ground at knifepoint - before she managed to escape after striking her attacker in the head with a torch and fleeing.
It follows increased police patrols and the deployment of plainclothes officers in bars and public spaces to watch out for "predatory behaviour", in an attempt to "reassure the public" after two earlier reported sexual crimes in Derry - an alleged violent sexual assault in the Lecky Road area and an alleged rape in the Bank Place area - were reported to the PSNI.
Read more: Derry plain clothes PSNI officers on watch for 'predatory behaviour' in bars and public spaces
Read more: PSNI appeal after woman pushed to ground at knifepoint in sexually motivated attack
In a PSNI statement on the latest incident, a police spokesperson said: "A woman in her 20s was walking in Drumahoe Park at around 10pm when a man approached her from behind. The man punched the woman to the side of the head, pulled her into nearby trees and pushed her to the ground at knifepoint.
"The woman struggled with her attacker, managing to strike him in the face a number of times with her torch before she was able to break free and run for help.
"Police immediately responded to the area and searched for the attacker, who had fled the scene."
Independent MLA and former Justice Minister Claire Sugden, speaking to Belfast Live, said: "It's concerning and there does seem to be more frequent occurences. Regrettably, I'm saying to women to be wary of your surroundings, to keep safe - and I shouldn't be saying that to women.
"We shouldn't need to be telling women to keep safe. You shouldn't have to say those things but, sadly, we have to.
"Otherwise we are going to hear more and more stories like this. The number of stories that we've heard in the last number of weeks is concerning."
She continued: "You know, we need to get a grip on why this is happening. We we do have the wider Executive strategy of ending violence against women and girls. It doesn't seem to be getting across. It won't happen overnight but we do need to change attitudes more widely within society in how we treat women - from low level misogyny to what's acceptable in terms of how we speak to each other.
"More needs to be done to ensure that the places that we call home - the communities, the areas that we walk in, that we should be able to feel safe in - are safe.
"I would encourage the police to do what they can. It sounds like they are."
She said reports of alleged serious sexually motivated crimes make women more "mindful of their safety".
"I think women feel like that generally. Certainly, as a woman, I wouldn't walk anywhere on my own at night. I would make sure that people in the world I'm going, I would have something prepared should someone attack me in my hand.
"And, you know, we heard Saoirse Roan's comments on Graham Norton, and it's exactly that. And that's in Derry, in Northern Ireland."
SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin expressed a similar view, saying: “This is the third report of [an alleged] serious sexual attack in our city in a week and people are understandably concerned. We have a number of victims who have been through the worst experience imaginable and police have had to increase their patrols to reassure people.
"Nobody should be subjected to this kind of [alleged] attack, it ruins lives and my heart goes out to anyone impacted by these incidents. Violence like this is all too common place in our society and we have a long way to go before women and girls can feel safe just living their lives."
Ms McLaughlin continued: "I would urge anyone with any information to come forward to police. We need to send a serious message about the consequences for engaging in this kind of sickening behaviour."
Detectives are appealing to anyone who was in the park on Friday night and who saw anything that could assist the investigation to please get in touch.
Detective Inspector Ross Olphert said: "Understandably the victim has been left traumatised and extremely distressed by this ordeal. Our specialist officers are continuing to support her today and a full investigation is underway.
"Attacks like this are an attack on all of us. Women should be free to go about their lives free from any threat.
"I am asking anyone who can assist our investigation and help us identify this perpetrator to get in touch with us by calling 101, quoting reference 1928 01/11/24."
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