A man of Tannese origin, in his late twenties or early thirties, is being held by Police following his detention yesterday on suspicion of assaulting a young woman and threatening her at knife point in the small hours of Sunday morning.

The woman, an Australian in her early twenties, was asleep in her room at Nautilus apartments adjacent to the Waterfront Bar and Grill when the incident occurred. According to a statement provided by the woman to the Daily Post, “I woke up with a hand on my mouth in a dark room with a male straddling me while I was in my bed.”

She attempted to scream, but was unable to. The assailant warned her to be quiet. After a brief struggle, she relaxed her body, and when her attacker slackened his grip on her, she was able to drive her knee into a sensitive area of his body, and knocked him backward out of the bed.

The attacker fled the apartment, but threatened the woman’s housemate with a kitchen knife when he confronted the man behind the apartment.

Both the woman and her housemate armed themselves with broomsticks and chased the man away.

Accounts are slightly confused concerning the minutes that followed, but it appears that the man jumped a wall into the adjacent Waterfront and attempted to make his escape from there. At the roadside entrance to the bar, he was confronted by the woman, who struck him repeatedly about the head and upper arms in an attempt to keep him from escaping.

The Daily Post was shown a broom handle that was split end to end due to the impact. READ MORE

SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST