A woman has claimed she was attacked by a stranger and dragged towards an abandoned building while walking her dog at 9am in Xemxija on Wednesday. 

Writing on Facebook, she claimed that a man with tanned skin [samrani] and neck tattoos leapt over a gate and grabbed her as she was out and about.

She later told Times of Malta that she had filed a police report about the alleged assault, which she said left her bruised and scratched. 

The woman, who asked not to be named, described her assailant as a 30-to 35-year-old man and around six feet tall. He was wearing black or dark grey tracksuit bottoms and a black t-shirt during the altercation. He spoke Maltese with a hint of an accent, she added. 

She later changed the privacy settings of her Facebook post to ensure it was only visible to her friends. 

'He could have seen me and been waiting'

The woman said she had taken to walking her two dogs individually, as due to their size they had become unmanageable to walk simultaneously.

“I had finished walking the first one so he could have seen me and waited while I went back and came out with the other dog,” she said.

The area where the woman usually walks her dogs is a rural pathway just off the main road leading from St Paul’s Bay to Xemxija, known as Ta' Marsovin.

“I didn't see anybody while walking the first dog. When I came back with the second one and passed the abandoned building, a man jumped over the gate and grabbed me.”

The attacker grabbed her by the neck and shoulders and attempted to drag her into the abandoned dwelling the woman wrote in a Facebook post.

“Talking in Maltese, he was aggressively commanding me to go inside,” the woman wrote.

When she resisted the attack, the man grew more aggressive.

“With me resisting he got even angrier and started swearing at me to further intimidate me,” she said.

The woman said that during the altercation the man tried to grab the dog’s leash from her hand. The dog, a large hunting breed weighing around 25 kg, had recently been rescued and has trust issues, the threat of separation from his owner causing him to react, growling and raising his hackles at the attacker.

When the dog leapt at the man, the woman broke free ran to call from help.

She filed a police report and visited a medical clinic. The ordeal left visible marks on her body.

“I ended up with bruises, scratches, fingerprint marks around my shoulders, neck and chest area plus muscle spasms and neck and pack pains. I am shocked to the core and in pain!” she said.

Triggering past trauma

The woman told Times of Malta that she had previously been in a physically abusive relationship and that the attack had triggered past trauma that has left her shaken.

“I don’t feel safe anymore, I can’t even take my dogs out for a walk by myself,” she said.

“I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, I don’t see how I could have provoked anyone,” she continued.

My dog basically saved my life

“He’s completely changed everything for me again. I don’t know how I’m going to feel about leaving the house, let alone if I need to go out at night.”

She went on to credit her beloved pet for saving her life on what should have been just another innocuous task in her day.

“My dog basically saved my life,” she said.

“When I think about it, all I can imagine is that he was going to rape me. If it weren't for my dog I don't know what would have happened.”

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