A thirty-year-old woman has claimed that two men attempted to abduct her near Mountpleasant Square in Ranelagh on Christmas Eve as she walked to work.
Iwona Gontarczyk, who is originally from Warsaw in Poland, has stated that she was the victim of an attempted abduction as she walked to her Grafton Street workplace (Brown Thomas) on December 24th. The young woman says she was attacked at around 7 am near the Mountpleasant Square junction in the Dublin suburb of Ranelagh.
A car with two male occupants drove slowly alongside Ms Gontarczyk who initially ignored the men. The driver then stopped the vehicle, got out and tried to grab Iwona by her shoulder.
The terrified woman, who has worked as a sales assistant at Brown Thomas since November, told the Herald that both men looked like they were under the influence of drugs:
“They shouted at me ‘do you have any change?’ In that situation, you usually just freeze.
I’m usually a very open person but they looked dangerous. One of them looked like he had been hit in the face a lot of times. The other one was younger. But he also looked dangerous.”
Ms Gontarczyk managed to run from her attackers although they continued to follow her for a short time. Arriving into work, the Polish native who has been living in Ireland since February, was understandably extremely shaken by the incident:
“They were really kind. They saw I was shaking and I had been crying. They saw there was something wrong. I wanted to forget about the situation. I thought ‘I’m alive, everything is OK.
When I analyse the situation I think ‘what if?’ What would have happened if I didn’t run?”
The sinister experience has had a lasting impact:
“I don’t like walking in the dark. I don’t feel safe. Never have I been in a situation like this. My life changed from this day. I’m a different person, I’m not open any more.”
Ms Gontarczyk did not initially report the attack to Gardai as she felt unable to give a physical description of the two men. She now plans to make an official report and wishes to make others aware of the incident.
If you have any information relating to matters of crime or other activities you can contact The Garda Confidential line on 1800 666111
