Australian Olympic athletes have been warned not to go out on their own or in their uniform after an Aussie woman was gang raped by five men in Paris.
French authorities have launched a major investigation into the brazen attack, which took place in the early hours of Saturday morning in the northern Pigalle district, just days before the Olympics begins.
Australian chef de mission Anna Meares said she had heard of no threats against team members, but they are being advised to be careful when going outside the athletes’ village.
‘I have been informed, it sounds horrific. Obviously our hearts go out to the woman involved and we hope she’s being cared for and supported in the trauma she’s experienced,’ Meares said on Tuesday morning.
‘There’s not a lot of detail and information that has come through.’
Meares reiterated that team members had been briefed thoroughly on security and safety precautions.
‘What information we’re passing onto our athletes is that security presence is really, really high and that’s in order for them to act as quickly as possible to keep them safe,’ she said.
‘We don’t yet have any feedback from our athletes that they have felt unsafe – we are encouraging them, if they go out of the village, not to go out on their own, not to wear (their) team uniform, just to wear plain clothes.
Australia’s Olympic team have been briefed following an alleged gang rape in Paris
A woman, 25, sought refuge in a Paris kebab shop after being brutally raped by five men at around 5am. But just moments later, one of the woman’s (blurred on the far left of image) alleged rapists (circled) approached her before ‘patting her’
‘We’re just waiting on further information on the actual case itself.’
The attack happened early on Saturday morning (local time) on Boulevard de Clichy.
The Games opening ceremony is on Friday evening.
The women had spent Friday night drinking in the bars and clubs around the Moulin Rouge cabaret before the men approached her in an unspecified location.
She told police she was set upon by a pack of five men ‘of African appearance’ and brutally raped at about 5am before escaping and seeking safety in the nearby Dounia kebab shop.
CCTV footage from the late-night Lebanese food restaurant, located on the Boulevard de Clinchy in the city’s 18th arrondissement, shows the terrified 25-year-old cowering in the shop and begging the owners for help as staff and fellow patrons try in vain to comfort her.
A man then enters the kebab shop, only for the woman to gesture that he was a member of the group that had attacked her only moments ago.
Harrowing security vision has captured the moment a visibly distressed Australian woman sought refuge inside a Paris kebab shop after being allegedly gang raped. People are pictured helping the woman, who is blurred, outside the kebab shop
The Australian woman sought refuge inside the Paris kebab shop only to be confronted by one of the men who’d assaulted her minutes earlier. Bystanders are pictured speaking with the woman, who is blurred, and police
The alleged rapist then approaches her and pats her on the back before placing an order for some food.
A diner then confronts the alleged rapist, taking a swing as staff jump in to break them up. The man then leaves the restaurant.
Staff and patrons, including several men and a blonde woman in a beige dress, continue to console the woman until police arrive.
Two officers are seen speaking to the woman about the devastating ordeal, before she was then taken to Bichat hospital.
The woman, who was described as having ‘her dress inside out’, also claimed her mobile phone had been stolen.
The footage is likely to form critical evidence as French authorities investigate the alarming incidents, which has cast a pall over the city’s Olympic Games opening ceremony later this week.
The woman was said to be ‘disoriented and unable to speak a word of French’ as she told police what had happened. She was reportedly unable to give details on the exact place or circumstances surrounding the attack.
‘Her recollection of the evening is extremely hazy, but she says up to five men raped her,’ said an investigating source.
‘She was seen wandering around Pigalle, while in a state of some confusion and distress.
‘Staff working in a kebab shop saw that her dress was on backwards when she went inside to seek help,’ said the source.
Paris prosecutors would not comment on the video on Tuesday, but they confirmed a judicial enquiry had been opened into the ‘gang rape’ allegation.
They said no arrests had yet been made, and did not issue any descriptions of any suspected attackers.
The woman reportedly had booked a flight home for the day after the attack but is now understood to be staying on in Paris to assist police with the investigation.
The Boulevard de Clinchy, famed for its arts and theatre outlets, is in the centre of Paris’s famed red-light district, with a lap dancing club and a sex shop located next to the kebab shop where the woman took refuge.
It is also less than three miles from the Stade de France, which will be provide the centre point to the Olympics, which opens on Friday.