Last week we reported on the attempted rape of a 76-year-old in the Ladyville/Lord's Bank area. She fought off her attacker but the residents of Green Estate where it happened have been spurred into action. They point to other attacks in the area and fear a serial rapist is on the prowl in their community.
This weekend, they focused on improving the community's security with a major clean up on Sunday where mostly women came out to help. Jomarie Lanza has this story:
Green Estate it is the site of the attempted rape of a 76 year old woman who fought of her attacker. Area residents who say that 2 more women were also attacked took on their own initiative to clean up the area and make it less of a harboring ground for a rapist they feel is lurking in their neighborhood.
Mark Usher, Resident of Green Estate
"A group of us live in Green estate and what has been happening recently, there is a rapist on the loose and the last I think a few days ago there was a news item that an elderly woman was attacked but she escaped which was lucky for her and that occurred inside the entrance of Green Estate well anyway we have always been concerned as residents in Green Estate about the crime in the area and so as a result of this situation we said lets get up and start work together as a community and try see how we can assist. What happen is the entrance to green estate was not properly maintained, there is a lot of bush and trees and there was the gate that was not really in operation it wasn't a man position and such we have had cases where somebody would close the gate and then at night if you have to drive in you have to get out of your vehicle to open the gate and that means that is like an ambush so we removed the gate and we started to clean up we did a great job yesterday."
"So I took out 5 of my work men yesterday and I think about 10 or 11 residents mostly women came out, I am really proud of those ladies they did a great job."
"Like 4:30-5 we finished majority of the work, that is just phase one."
Usher says that while the police are doing their part they have to pitch in as residents as well and work to improve the safety of the community.
Mark Usher, Resident of Green Estate
"One of the our efforts is there is already a booth at the gate so we will then gather as much of our residents and we will fund the establishment of a manned booth at that point, put up things like cameras put up more lightning and like I said we are coordinating with the developer and hopefully we get his full support as far as making sure that the shrubs and the grass and everything is always kept at bay."
"The most important thing right now and this is the reason I asked for the coverage is because there is a rapist in that area and this guy is dangerous. The report is he is using a gun we don't know if it is a fake gun or a real gun he is onto his fourth victim you see and obviously he won't stop. Now all of his activity has been in the day so he is not a nightmare he is a daymare right but people have to be aware it appears that he looks for victims who come off the bus whether they enter green estate or whether they continue up towards Lords Bank, but he is out there and it could be that more than one of them is out there. The police is doing their best and we are in communication with the police but I am appealing to everybody in that area pay attention to what is going on if you see something say something we are doing our part as residents of Lord's Bank."
Police have so far made no arrests.
