American Woman Gang Raped And Beaten In Brazil During Six Hour Abduction

An American woman and her French boyfriend were brutally assaulted in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil over the weekend. 

Three men abducted the couple after they boarded a public van in the seaside district of Copacabana, according to police. During the six-hour abduction, the attackers beat both of the victims, stole their money and gang raped the 21-year-old woman. During the sexual assault on the woman, her male companion was beaten with a metal bar and forced to watch. The couple was also forced to use bank cards to withdraw money from their accounts before the assailants finally freed them at a bus station on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Three men ages 20, 21 and 22 have been arrested for the attacks. Police say that an additional a young Brazilian woman has come forward to say that she was also raped by the same men in the van on March 23.

"The victims described everything in great detail, mostly the sexual violence," police officer Rodrigo Brant told the Globo TV network. "Just how they described the facts was shocking - the violence and brutality. It surprised even us, who work in security and are used to hearing such things. Their report shocked us."

Alexandre Braga, the commanding officer who heads the Rio police unit specializing in crimes against tourists, told Globo television that the suspects had gone on a sex crime spree.

"The characteristics of both crimes, both the Brazilian case and the one with the foreigners, lead us to believe that they [the suspects] wanted to have a 'party of evil,' in quotes," Braga said. "The principal motive appears to have been the satisfaction of their lust."

He added that the robbery and other crimes appear to have been "secondary."

The incidents raise new questions about security in Rio, which has cracked down on once-endemic drug violence in preparation to next year's football World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic games which will be hosted there. The city will also host to World Youth Day, a Roman Catholic pilgrimage that will be attended by Pope Francis and millions of people in July.