Mother assaulted in library car park

Mother-of-one Lena (not her real name) said she always felt safe here, but on 23 Feb., that all changed when she said she was sexually assaulted in broad daylight outside the public library in George Town while her 5-month-old baby was at her side.

“I felt so alone and so helpless,” she told the Cayman Compass during a telephone interview the day after the attack, in which a male stranger, among a small group of men gathered at the library car park, approached her and slapped her hard on the buttocks.

The mom, who requested her name be withheld, said she wants to alert other women in the community about the incident so they can protect themselves.

“I would never have imagined this,” she said. “I always thought of Cayman [as] a safe place. It’s very friendly. So far, I’ve had a positive impression of being on the island. We relocated here about a year ago and I see a lot of families with little kids running around, and everyone feels like it’s a small community and feels really safe.”

However, for her, that sense of security has been irrevocably damaged.

“Now, every time I leave the house, I think about… [how] this happened during the day… How can I protect myself? [What] if they had hurt my baby or slapped my face? It’s really a big deal because it is part of my body, and it was sexual harassment and it was not a prank,” she said.

Lena questioned the absence of a sexual harassment law in Cayman to protect women.

The Compass reached out to the Premier’s Office for an update on the legislation, but had not received a response as of press time.

Police confirmed that they had received a report of the indecent assault.

An RCIPS spokesperson said, “A woman was approached by three males, one of whom touched her on the behind, before fleeing the location in the direction of Dr. Roy’s Drive, through the rear of the bus park. One of the suspects is described as being a young man, possibly a teenager, of dark complexion, and was wearing all-black clothing and a hoodie.

The matter is currently under investigation by police.”

Coffee with a friend turns scary

Lena said, on the afternoon of the assault, she left her car in the library parking lot while she met a friend for coffee. As she walked back to her car around 5:30pm, pushing her baby in a stroller, she felt a presence behind her.

She looked back and saw the group of men, one of whom had started walking close behind her, so she started walking faster to her car.

As she neared the vehicle, she said, the man, who appeared to be in his teens, walked up to her and slapped her on her buttocks.

She said she felt the sting and was instantly afraid.

“He knew what he was doing, or at least he knew there are cameras,” she said, adding that he was wearing all black and had a hood which he was using to cover his face.

“While he hit me, he even said, ‘There you go’,” she said, shakily.

She said she was terrified at that point, more for her baby than for herself.

“My baby’s only 5 months and, as a mother, you immediately think about what possibly [could happen]. You always worry and you immediately think about not only of your safety, but the safety of your child, and then you have all these thoughts rushing through your head and different scenarios playing.

“What if they had any weapons… or they could kidnap the baby, they can push the stroller into the street. They can assault me in the car. They can rape me in my car. I was so terrified,” she said.

Before she could call for help, the attacker ran off, she said.

Gripped by fear

At first, she said, she stood by her car shaking, stunned by what had happened, and called 911.

“I was not OK,” she said, adding that she walked back to the Starbucks security guard who was helpful and waited with her.

“I was not fit to drive. I guess I was still shaking all over my body,” she said.

She said she could not have imagined she would have ever experienced an assault in such a public place and warned others to be careful.

“It makes me scared to leave the house now,” she said. “It makes me scared to go to a public place… It was still daylight. It’s a public, visibly accessible spot that children alone can walk to. It’s a library… It terrifies me that it doesn’t feel so safe anymore,” Lena said.

She said while the young man who attacked her may have considered it a joke, it was a “big deal” to her, and she is physically bruised from the encounter.

“From my point of view, from a woman’s point of view, from a mother… they all have mothers at home and I hope they realise that something like this is not funny. It’s not a prank. It left me bruised, literally, physically and emotionally wounded, and I hope next time someone thinks about making a joke or making this prank, they will think twice,” she said.