Goa horror for Dutch tourist: Molested and stabbed by resort staff

The Dutch national suffered stabbing injuries and underwent a surgery.

“I have been travelling since earlier this month and after visiting Rajasthan and Mumbai, my plan was to stay at a resort for a night before heading to a four-day yoga retreat in Goa. After dinner at the resort, I went to sleep in my tent. The tent did not have a door; it was just a fabric. Around 2 am, suddenly the light was switched on. I woke up and saw a man removing the mosquito net around the bed. He had duct tape in his hand and he tried to grab me,” the Dutch woman is learnt to have told the police.

She screamed for help as he tried to grab her arm. “He told me to shut up or he would kill me. I bit him hard as he put his fingers in my mouth, and tried to push him off the bed. As I struggled, I kept yelling for help. Then I saw another man enter the tent. Initially, I was scared that he was an associate of the accused, but he told me that he was there to help, and a fight ensued between the two,” she is learnt to have said.

She added that the accused then ran away, only to return shortly holding a kitchen knife. “He then stabbed the man who had come to help me. The other person started bleeding and ran to seek help, while the accused stabbed me with the knife. I tried to overpower him and managed to take the knife from him. I then told him to leave. He picked up his phone and fled,” she is learnt to have told police.

She told officials she suffered multiple injuries on the left side of upper back and abdomen, and was bleeding. “I rushed to the entrance of the resort to ask for help. It is strange that no one from the resort staff heard my screams and no one came to help. A foreign national and some locals then called a passer-by and rushed me to the hospital,” she told the police.

The Indian Express spoke to Eurico Nayan Dais (42), who rushed to help the Dutch national. He suffered multiple injuries on his head and back, and is undergoing treatment at the hospital. He works as a food and beverage manager at a beach resort, and said he was at his house having a late dinner with his wife when he heard the woman’s screams coming from a nearby resort.

“The resort is over 30 metres from our house. I scaled the wall of the resort compound and entered her tent. I saw the accused was on top of the woman. I kicked him and punched him and he ran away. I took a bedsheet and covered the woman. But, he suddenly appeared again and stabbed me with a knife. Blood was gushing from my head. I rushed to seek help; I went to my family and told them to save the woman,” he said.

An FIR has been registered against the accused under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 506 (II) (if threat be to cause death or grievous hurt etc) of the Indian Penal Code, said police.

In a statement, Nidhin Valsan, SP, North Goa, said that on March 28-29 night, the accused entered the woman’s tent. “When she saw him, she started screaming for help. Seeing this, the accused tried to hold her and threatened her. Hearing her screams, a local person came to help her and tried to grab hold of the accused. The accused ran away and returned with a knife and attacked the local who had come to the woman’s rescue. The accused further assaulted the complainant with a knife and fled. After the incident was reported, a team was formed and the accused was immediately arrested. The knife has been recovered,” he said.