Athens: There is a rising concern among the people of Greece after an increasing number of sexual assault cases are being linked to men of Pakistani origin. In the last few months, there have been several cases where Pakistani migrants were found committing unspeakable sexual atrocities against native women and children.
Recently, a Pakistani migrant was arrested in Ierapetra, Crete, for the assault and attempted rape of a local woman. The Pakistani migrant had approached a local woman named Despina Platanaki near the old town hall and beat her while attempting to rape her. A police complaint was filed by the victim and the assaulter was arrested. It was later learned by the police that the assaulter might have sexually harassed at least five other women.
Two days later, Platanaki posted a picture of herself on Facebook and informed the world about the sexual attack on her. She urged other victims of sexual assault to come forward and speak up after she came to know that she was not the Pakistani migrant’s only victim.
In her appeal, Platanaki said, “I was brutally, sexually assaulted by a man of Pakistani descent. After many hours of security statements, we discovered that this ‘gentleman’ had attempted and sexually harassed five more girls who have not testified.” “Fortunately for those girls, they did not experience the horror and pain that I feel. I know this is a delicate matter, and you may feel ashamed, but if any of you have been harassed and have not mentioned it, please go to the police and make a statement,” Platanaki said.
For some time now, Greece has been afflicted by a series of sexual assaults involving Pakistani migrants. While the victims have been predominantly native women, in some cases, even children have been brutalised by men of Pakistani descent.
On 26 March, a case of a Pakistani migrant trying to molest a 13-year-old boy came to the fore. In the Greek village of Messara, a Pakistani migrant reportedly attempted to kiss the minor boy on his lips. The boy had gone to the house of the Pakistani migrant, who was a neighbour of the boy’s relative. After the incident, the boy narrated the incident to his father, who in turn called the police and filed a complaint against the Pakistani migrant.
In February 2021, a court in Greece had extended the judicial custody of a man of Pakistani descent from 12 months to 18 months after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old minor girl. The incident occurred in April 2020 when the Pakistani migrant had raped the minor girl. The culprit had reportedly sexually assaulted the girl when she had come to her home. While the Pakistani migrant defended himself saying that there was no sexual act between the two, the court had pressed charges for committing rape. Witnesses testified that the Pakistani met the 11-year-old outside a primary school and that the children had informed him that she was a student.
Again in February 2021, a case of a Pakistani man trying to rob and rape a young woman was reported from Pyrgos Kallistos, a village on the island of Santorini. The Pakistani migrant had reportedly threatened the girl with a knife and attempted to rape her in the small municipality of Koliri in the Peloponnese.
