Police have searched bushland by helicopter following a fourth report of women being maliciously targeted on trails in Brisbane’s western suburbs.
A group of women reported being menaced by a tall, skinny bald man on a popular trail in the foothills of Mount Coot-tha.
“In one instance he aggressively tore a branch off a tree as a woman was running by. He was also seen drawing ‘pentagrams’ on the ground. This was reported to police. Police confirmed they are investigating reports of a man loitering on the Litchfield Track and Mahogany Trail on Thursday between 8:30am and 9am.
A POLAIR helicopter and officers on foot were mobilised but were unable to locate the man. Police said they are also investigating a reported wilful exposure incident on June 11. They said a woman with a young child on a walking trail near Creekside Street at Brookfield reported that an older man had exposed himself “some distance away” from her and her child.
Last month, police called for witnesses to an attempted sexual assault on the Cockatoo Trail after a 25-year-old woman reported a man had tried to assault her before fleeing the scene on foot. That woman has since dropped her police complaint.
On June 7, another woman reported an attempted sexual assault on the Maculata Track at Mt Coot-tha that was interrupted by a passing male runner.
Police have yet to issue a comfit of that attacker, but said they have increased patrols.
Profile photo of Inspector Corey Allen of Queensland Police Academy
At a media conference last week, Inspector Corey Allen told reporters police “didn’t have much to go on” after the June 7 incident.
“We don’t have enough to put out a comfit at this stage … in some cases, we don’t get a perpetrator,” he said.
“The reported offences in those areas are very, very low — these are very isolated events, it’s just a state of the times and the environment we’re in where women have good reason to not feel safe in public.
“It saddens me to hear that people feel like they need to carry rape whistles. The evidence is the trails are safe, but we can’t get away from the fact that people feel unsafe.” Unease is spreading among women who regularly use the walking tracks, with many reporting on social media that they have stopped using tracks or have started taking measures to protect themselves.
Resorting to protective measures
Women have reported taking deep heat, makeshift self-defence sprays, personal alarms and even a screwdriver to protect themselves.
“It has changed things. I’m not going in the dark anymore, don’t have Air-Pods in, have purchased a personal alarm, keep a screwdriver in my pocket and I’m constantly scanning front and back,” one woman wrote.
“Don’t know how I haven’t tripped over yet from looking around so much rather than observing the track. “I’ve never been scared to run anywhere I’ve lived and so It makes me angry that we have to stop doing something that we love, and have lost our freedom in our own backyard.”