NT: Men charged over attack on sleeping Korean backpacker

AAP General News (Australia)
08-21-2009
NT: Men charged over attack on sleeping Korean backpacker

By Tara Ravens

DARWIN, Aug 21 AAP - A man has been charged after he allegedly assaulted a Korean backpacker
while she slept in her van in Darwin.

Her friend, woken by the early morning attack, jumped behind the wheel and drove off
and then crashed into another car at the Darwin waterfront.

Police said the Korean nationals, aged 24 and 25, had parked their white Mitsubishi
Magna station wagon outside the World War II storage tunnels on Kitchener Drive on Tuesday
night.

They went to sleep about 9pm (CST) but were awoken about eight hours later when one
of two men, aged 22 and 24, allegedly entered the back of the vehicle.

The older man has been accused of indecently assaulting one of the backpackers and
waking her friend, who rushed to the front of the van, got behind the wheel and drove
off in a panic.

Police said she subsequently crashed into a parked car in front of the Medina Vibe Hotel.

"The females, in a panic, had started their car and attempted to leave the area in
a hurry but struck a parked vehicle at the hotel," Duty Superintendent Dean Maloney told
ABC Radio on Thursday.

He said the officers who arrived at the scene found the two travellers in "a very distressed
state".

The two men fled the scene in a white, late model dual-cab Nissan Navara but police
tracked them down in the nearby suburb of Stuart Park on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for police media on Friday said the oldest of the alleged offenders has
been charged with indecent assault and interfering with a motor vehicle.

He will appear in Darwin Magistrates Court on September 10.

The other man has not been charged but will be summoned to appear in court at a later date.

The attack prompted police to warn travellers to seek out accommodation in backpacker
hostels, motels or camping grounds, rather than pulling their cars over on the side of
the road.

"It seems to be a common occurrence, and particularly they seek out isolated areas
around the fringes of town to do that," Supt Maloney said.

"And it does have its inherent dangers."

AAP tr/sn/

KEYWORD: BACKPACKERS

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.