V
Vultan
Guest
Sunday January 30, 2011
Malaysian student gang-raped in London
By JOSHUA FOONG
[email protected]
PETALING JAYA: An 18-year-old Malaysian student in London was allegedly gang-raped by several Russian men, including an intelligence officer who has been charged with the offence.
The Sun tabloid of London (pic), which broke the story on Thursday, reported that the girl had attended a party at the prestigious Bellerbys College in Greenwich, South London, where she is studying.
The report, quoting sources, claimed that the girl was allegedly drugged and then filmed while being assaulted by seven Russian men, including the intelligence officer identified as Oleg Vladimirvich Ivanov, 23.
The attack is said to have happened early last Sunday during the party attended by English language students of the college. The report stated that police retrieved iPhones with harrowing footage of the victim being gang-raped.
Ivanov was charged with three others identified as Gregory Andreev Melnikov, 22, Norayr Davtyan, 25, and Arnen Simonay, 26, with the offence at the Woolwich Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and Wednesday.
All four claimed trial and have been remanded. They will appear at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday. Two other suspects were released on bail while another was released without any charge.
The Sun report stated that the seven men had claimed to be students, but it quoted well-informed sources as saying that Ivanov worked in the Intelligence Section of the Moscow Police.
It stated that Ivanov had only been in Britain for a week before the alleged gang-rape. The victim was said to have raised the alarm after staggering into a friend’s room.
“She is distraught. She is very young and it is believed she was given a drug before being defiled,” the report quoted a source as saying. Two students at the college, contacted by The Star last night, were tight-lipped about the incident.
“What we know so far is what everyone has read in the newspaper (The Sun). We refuse to talk about the case as we are not allowed to. Please contact our college officials if you want a comment,’’ said one of them. The college officials could not be reached for comment.
