A young tourist raped in Fiji has warned holidaymakers to beware of the island paradise in a chilling warning that comes as the man accused of raping a Virgin Australia flight crew member faced court on Monday.
Ilaisa Tanoa Degei allegedly posed as a taxi driver on New Year’s Eve, picked up the Virgin Australia hostess from a Nadi bar and allegedly raped her on the way to her hotel.
Now, an earlier victim of a similar attack has broken her silence about her terrifying sex assault by a man she had spoken to just hours earlier.
The 26-year-old woman, from Japan, was on a short stopover at Westfield Homestay in Nadi on her way back from Tonga last April when she alleges she was subjected to a brutal sexual assault.
But despite police knowing her attacker’s identity, she believes the rapist was allowed to go free to protect Fiji’s ‘tropical paradise’ reputation
‘I even gave them a copy of his passport that my friend collected from reception and still he wasn’t arrested,’ the victim – known as Ms R – told Daily Mail Australia.
‘They care more about making money than they do about the safety of women.’
Ms R says as soon as she left Fiji she was completely stonewalled by the authorities and has been left traumatised by both the attack and her shocking treatment since.
‘I was just a traveller, so if the police don’t do anything about it, then it’s like there is no problem in Fiji,’ said Ms R.
‘Rather than cover it up, they’re just pretending it didn’t happen at all. It’s so disappointing.’
A Japanese tourist alleges she was raped on her second night in Fiji and then stonewalled by island authorities after leaving the island paradise
The victim shared a series of bruises she alleges to have suffered during the alleged assault with Daily Mail Australia
The 26-year-old was on a short stopover at Westfield Homestay (pictured) in Nadi when a guest brutally attacked her
The woman was on her way back from Tonga last April when she was subjected to the brutal sex assault in her accommodation (pictured)
Ms R, a physiotherapist, was awake in her dormitory when a man who said he was from Guwahati, Assam, India but ‘living in Australia’ asked her to turn off the light.
He told her he wanted to sleep – but later that night she says she was attacked by the same man who raped her in the dark dormitory.
‘That could not have been his first time,’ she said. ‘He seemed to know how to treat my resistance and if he has done it once then he will do it again.’
Ms R had visible injury marks on her neck and leg which she photographed as evidence.
She told a Fijian friend about the incident the following morning and they went together to reported the attack at Namaka Police Station.
After she gave details and location of her attacker, including a copy of his passport, the police then took her to the hospital for medical examinations.
But after leaving Fiji the following day, Ms R says her case was forgotten.
‘They never contacted me again and even when I call them they don’t give me any update,’ she said.
Ms R now says she will never return to Fiji and was devastated when she heard about the alleged rape of theVirgin Australia staff member just months after her own ordeal.
Alleged ‘fake taxi driver’ Ilaisa Tanoa, 24, was escorted to the Nadi Magistrates Court on Monday in a police vehicle wearing a brightly coloured shirt
A female member of a Virgin Australia flight crew was allegedly sexually assaulted outside the Bar One nightspot in Nadi, on Fiji’s west coast, in the early hours of New Years Day while a male colleague was robbed and needed to go to hospital to be treated for a facial injury
Virgin Australia’s crew are now back in Australia having been asked to remain ‘contactable’ during the investigation so they can help police with their ongoing enquiries
But she says she has no trust in Fiji’s justice system after what she went through.
The 21-year old Virgin cabin crew member had gone out with colleagues to a nightclub district and was allegedly sexually assaulted after leaving Bar One club while trying to get back to her hotel.
Degei, 24, a farmer from Fiji’s largest island Viti Levu, was charged on Saturday with the New Years Day attack and faced Nadi Magistrates Court on Monday.
The woman, who had been separated from her friends, was attempting to make her way home following the nightclub’s 1am lockout.
A male colleague was also assaulted and robbed in a separate incident after he left the same club.
Daily Mail Australia last week exposed Nadi’s sinister underbelly which has left unsuspecting travellers sitting ducks for criminals in the tourist town.
Many taxis refuse to work in the area after 10pm following a spate of brutal robberies on cab drivers, leaving revellers stranded.
‘They’re like sitting ducks with often no way home or back to hotels before sunrise,’ a Fiji local told Daily Mail Australia.
‘A taxi driver was murdered last year and many others robbed so they’ve refused to work late until the government do more to protect them.
‘It’s not only caused problems for people getting back to their hotels, but it has left groups of heavily intoxicated men loitering around the streets.
‘There were safety concerns months ago so the government changed the club operating hours to close at 1am on New Year’s Eve instead of 6am as usual.
‘Attacks on tourists are not new, but have been covered up wherever possible.’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk