The ocean makes us do a lot of strange things… but not THIS strange. Photo: Shutterstock
If you’ve spent any time in the ocean at all, it’s more than likely that you’ve had some kind of embarrassing experience because of it. Maybe you were smashed onto the beach by a merciless shore pound, trunkless and quivering, sand packed into every orifice. Maybe you were swept off a rock along with a bunch of other lookie-loos. Maybe you were caught off guard by a larger-than-average wave that sent you careening into some helpless bystander. But it’s probably not likely that you careened into eight women in a half hour period… and managed to “accidentally” grope them all. A teenager on the Gold Coast, though, claims that’s exactly what happened.
According to ABC, a few days ago at Surfers Paradise, the 18-year-old Pakistani man allegedly sexually assaulted eight women between the ages of 15 and 24. Reports state that while swimming between the flags, the man “sexually assaulted two of the females through their bikini bottoms.” The women told lifeguards, who called the police. Now he’s been charged with two counts of attempted rape, seven counts of sexual assault, and four counts of common assault.
His excuse? The ocean made him do it. In court, the man’s lawyer said that wind and waves accidentally pushed his client into the women. The judge, though, called bullshit. “The Crown will argue that’s the most unfortunate conspiracy of circumstances in history,” he said, after denying bail. “My view of the facts in this case is the Crown case appears to be quite strong in the allegation of eight separate, brazen and repeated sexual assaults and attempted rape. It’s an indication of a person having great difficulty controlling their sexual instincts.”
Of course, the alleged perpetrator is innocent until proven guilty, and like I said before, we’ve probably all found ourselves in a situation where the ocean is the one in control. According to police, though, this couldn’t have been the case. “If you look at the surf from yesterday, it was two to three feet,” said detective Greg Aubort. “it was nothing startling in that sense.”
