An American tourist said that she was raped while on vacation in the Dominican Republic in June.
The Staten Island, New York, resident said she was also hurled from a second-story balcony.
The woman, who chose to stay anonymous, told her story to WABC because, she said, she wanted to warn other women.
“People go on vacation,” she said. “They put their guard down half of the time. They are trying to relax, but I want people to know, you can’t have your guard down. You always have to be careful. It could happen at any time. This didn’t happen at night time. This happened in broad day.”
The victim said she was staying at the Ocean Blue and Sand in Punta Cana when she was attacked one afternoon after she met a couple at a poolside bar. She thinks they drugged her.
She said the 28-year-old man who was drinking with her and his partner took her to a room and raped her before throwing her off a second-story balcony. According to police reports obtained by WABC, the man’s female partner said she threw the New York woman off the balcony during a fight between her and her boyfriend that started when she found the victim in the hotel room.
The man and woman both face sexual assault, attempted murder, and other charges, but are currently free on $1,000 bond.
“They caught the people, and they let them out. How do you do that?” the alleged victim said. “That’s what [expletive] me off the most, is that I know who did it and they might walk free.”
Justice abroad? New York City woman allegedly raped in the Dominican Republic shares her story https://t.co/tGgRo3aIbr via @ABC7NY @RAINN @pathways2safety @OJPOVC @StateDept
— Danielle Leigh (@DanielleNLeigh) July 9, 2019
Another Story
A Delaware woman said earlier this year that she was brutally beaten, possibly raped, and left for dead while on vacation in the Dominican Republic in January.
Tammy Lawrence-Daley, 51, posted on Facebook about the ordeal before speaking to a number of media outlets.
“How do you explain to your kids you were almost killed by some random stranger and that, ‘Mommy is coming home, but I don’t look like myself?’ How do you look into your parent’s eyes as they gaze upon your battered face telling them, ‘I’m okay, I’ll be okay.’ Seeing friends break down in tears as they look at you. Everyone asking, ‘why?’ ‘how?’” she wrote.
Lawrence-Daley said she was walking to get a snack at the Majestic Elegance resort, also in Punta Cana, one night when she was grabbed from behind and shoved into a maintenance room. It was the start of an eight-hour nightmare, the alleged victim said.
“The next 8 hours brought me pain and fear. I was strangled multiple times to unconsciousness,” she wrote in the Facebook post. “My lifeless body was [dragged] down concrete stairs to an underground wastewater area. I was kicked in the head, I was beaten with a club. And then strangled again for the kill.”
A Delaware woman who says she was severely beaten at a resort is telling her story in public for the first time.
Tammy Lawrence-Daley says she was attacked by a stranger in January inside the resort where she was staying in the Dominican Republic. pic.twitter.com/aByQjKDuoC
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) May 31, 2019
Her husband and friends frantically searched for her but claimed hotel employees brushed them off, claiming the missing woman was likely drunk somewhere.
Lawrence-Daley alleged that her attacker was wearing a hotel uniform.
Dominican officials attempted to downplay the alleged events, claiming the alleged victim was out for money.
The resort said that Lawrence-Daley, “who is a professional in the insurance industry in the United States, formally demanded a $2.2 million compensation agreement.”
“The authorities investigating the case understand the scenario is still unclear, and that there are weak points, contradictions on the information offered, and that there are still unanswered questions in this strange and unusual case,” the resort added. The hypothesis of some authorities is that Lawrence-Daley’s story “presents contradictions and confusing facts, casting doubts on her testimony.”
The country has been in the news repeatedly over the past several months after three Americans died there in May, triggering a slew of family members coming forward to relate how their loved ones had also died there since June 2018.
