Source: news.com.au
September 26, 2007 Author: Robyn Ironside and Ursula Heger
DETECTIVES are baffled by a brazen daylight attack at Newmarket, in Brisbane's inner north on Monday, in which a woman had her underpants ripped off and bag stolen.
"It's pretty strange. I haven't heard anything like it before," Det-Sen-Sgt Brad Rix said.
He said the 23-year-old was grabbed from behind as she walked home from Newmarket train station about 4.30pm (AEST).
The offender then lifted her dress up, and pulled off her underpants before grabbing her bag and taking off.
"It was absolute daylight, not far from a train station. This person must have felt sure he was going to get away with it," Det-Sen-Sgt Rix said. He said there was no attempt to sexually assault the woman, who did not realise her bag had been stolen until some time later.
"It's possible he may have stolen her underpants as a trophy, or perhaps he intended taking the attack further. We don't know," he said.
Police have ruled out any connection between the attack and sex assaults on women on northside Brisbane bikeways.
"It was a different method of operation, a different description (of the offender), a different location," Echo Shine Taskforce head Insp Bob Hytch said.
