«I will never forget the fear I felt that day: I felt like a rat in a cage, with my back against the wall . Now I no longer go out alone, the thought of that hooded individual emerging from the bushes haunts me." The story is told by Paola (not her real name), who two years ago - during one of her daily walks in the Terramaini park area in Pirri - was stopped by a man who tried to put his hands on her, chasing her for several meters. The facts date back to the spring of 2021 but the perpetrator of the attack could be the same one who molested a girl in the Via Newton area on Sunday evening , «not far – adds Paola – from where it happened to me. As the crow flies it will perhaps be 500 meters or a little more."
«I remember that it was around 11 in the morning, so I left the house without too many thoughts. The weather was beautiful, not even a cloud in the sky. I took a walk along the path that runs along the canal. It is a quiet place, a daily destination for many runners and cyclists", continues Paola, trying to retrace exactly what happened that day. «Then at a certain point I felt I was being watched and he, the maniac , came out of the bushes . He was hooded , I only remember about his face that he wasn't a young man, he could have been 50-60 or even 40 : he was very scruffy and at the time I didn't pay attention to the details."
With a lot of anxiety she then looked around, realizing that «the two women walking in front of me were now far away. He waited until I was alone, then he came out."
According to the young woman, he was an " unstable person , I don't know if he was drunk". Then, realizing he had no escape route, the last desperate attempt: « I had a one and a half liter metal water bottle with me . It was full, nice and heavy. So I gathered courage and threatened him, telling him that if he didn't leave me alone I would take justice into my own hands", confesses Paola.
And it went well. Because the man «either because of my high tone of voice or because of something else, has moved away. From there my desperate race home began, my heart was in my mouth. I stopped to see if he was following me but he wasn't," concludes the girl. Then the article in the newspaper, the posts on Facebook about the latest ambush against other young people.
«I don't know if it's the same person, what is certain is that the dynamics are the same. And if it were two different people it would be even worse. When can we feel safe? Maybe never."
