A complete stranger tried to pull a 16-year-old girl from Heeze off her bicycle on Sunday afternoon. That happened in the woods of Aalst, near the Hut van Mie Pils. The teenager managed to free herself from her attacker with a good blow. “Then I screamed really loud.”
The girl, who wishes to remain anonymous, was on her way from her boyfriend in Aalst to home in Heeze at around one o’clock on Sunday afternoon. When she cycled through the woods near the Hut van Mie Pils, she suddenly came face to face with her attacker. “He was around the corner behind a bush and suddenly appeared. He pulled my bag and grabbed me by the waist. When I started screaming, he put his hand over my mouth. Nearby was a white van with the door half open ‘ she says shocked.
“He took the bike and came after me.”
She eventually managed to free herself from her attacker. “I hit his face hard with my elbow and quickly cycled away.” The van blocked the road, but she said she could just cycle past it.
That did not mean she was rid of her attacker, she says. “There was also an electric bicycle near the van. He took the bicycle and came after me. Fortunately, I was faster. I immediately cycled back to my friend and called the police there. I was very shocked.”
“Then she might have been raped.”
Her mother can’t bear to think about what could have happened. “If he had pulled her into the van, it would have turned out very differently. Then she might have been raped.”
Together with her daughter, she wants to warn other people. According to them, the route is often used by students who cycle to school. The attacker would be a man between 30 and 40 years old who did not speak Dutch, with yellow teeth and a stubble beard. He has a white van and an electric bicycle.
The girl reported to the police.
* The girl has indicated that she wishes to remain anonymous. Her name is known to the editors.