Rapist on the Loose

A knife wielding serial rapist is terrorizing women in a two square mile area between Arnos Vale, Fountain, Fairhall, and Villa and the police are no where near to catching him.

But they are warning women, especially those living alone, to batten down and be on their guard.{{more}}

The bareback well-built man has been attacking women at an average rate of one woman every nine days since September.

He last struck two Wednesdays ago in Fairhall for the first time since the assaults started leading police to believe that he was expanding his area of operation.

Station Sergeant Trevor Bailey of the Calliaqua Police Station warned all women in the “danger areas” to be extra cautious, especially when going to bed at night by ensuring that the entire house is tightly secured.

“You can’t go to sleep with your windows open and say you want breeze; buy a fan,” he said.

He also asked all residents in the target areas to be on the look out for strange men in their neighbourhoods.

“Don’t hesitate to call us at the police station if you see any strange men in your neighborhood streets,” Station Sergeant Bailey appealed.

The man is believed to be in his early thirties; dark skinned and well built, about 5-feet 7-inches tall. He is usually barebacked, his head covered, and his nose and mouth also covered with a piece of cloth or a jersey, some of the victims told police.

Some of the women reported also being robbed of money but Calliaqua police said that there have not been reports of any other types of violence.

One woman who was attacked and fought back reportedly told her attacker “even if you have to kill me, go ahead, but you not raping me”. The man fled and she was spared.

Police officials told SEARCHLIGHT that the spate of sexual assaults began three months ago in the Fountain, Arnos Vale, and Villa areas. The rapist then went underground for a couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago when he surfaced in Fairhall police were able to link him to all the other rapes because of certain characteristic trends that had been commonly reported by all victims.

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR

Former FBI Special Agent Robert Hazelwood, a specialist in criminal behaviour who worked in the United States and the Caribbean on rape cases, was contacted by SEARCHLIGHT to explain what drives this rapist and the techniques he uses to select his victims.

Hazelwood however said that commenting specifically on an ongoing investigation could unwittingly provide valuable information to the perpetrator and pointed instead to the landmark study he co-authored -Criminal Behaviour of the Serial Rapist which could provide insight into the man’s behaviour and also provide women with valuable information to protect themselves.

Hazelwood and Janet Warren of the Institute of Psychiatry and Law of the University of Virginia described the techniques used by serial rapist in stalking and attacking their victims and how they evade detection.

They said that there were three different approaches used by serial rapists – the “con”, “blitz” and “surprise”.

The “con” approach is impersonating an official, such as a plain clothes police officer, and approaching women in a personable, helpful way. After getting their trust, the rapist becomes aggressive.

The “blitz” approach is where the rapist uses a direct assault that subdues and physically injures the victim before raping her.

The “surprise” approach involves pre-selecting victims through “peeping tom” activities where the assailant would watch the victim’s residence to establish her patterns and determine that she would be alone. He would wait until she had gone to sleep, enter the home and use threats or the presence of a weapon to threaten her with physical harm if she did not cooperate. However there is no physical injury.

To control the victims, the rapist uses a threatening presence or verbal threats especially when women resisted.

The researchers said that over one-third of the offenders experience a sexual dysfunction and receive low levels of pleasure from the act.

They also tend not to be concerned with concealing their identities.

Over one-third consumed alcohol or abuse drugs prior to a rape.

The most common post-offence behaviour of the rapist is the feeling of remorse and guilt, following the case in the media, and an increase in alcohol and drug consumption.

“These characteristics, although not generally applicable to every rapist, can be helpful in learning more about offenders, their behaviours and the heinous crime of rape,” the authors stated.

The study was conducted through interviews with 41 men who raped 837 women between 1984 and 1986.