Cruel moment: Australian gang rape victim flees from her attackers in Paris and begs kebab shop staff for help

• Footage shows the moment a Paris rape victim fled to a kebab shop over the weekend
• Horror attack just days before the start of the Olympic Games

Shocking surveillance footage shows the moment a visibly distraught Australian woman sought refuge in a Paris kebab shop after being gang raped – and was confronted there by one of the men who had attacked her just minutes earlier.

French authorities have launched a full investigation into the brazen attack that took place in the northern Pigalle district in the early hours of Saturday, just days before the start of the Olympic Games.

The women had spent Friday evening drinking in the bars and clubs around the Moulin Rouge cabaret before the men approached them at an unspecified location.

She told police that she was attacked and brutally raped by a group of five men of “African appearance” at around 5 a.m. before she was able to escape and seek shelter in the nearby Dounia kebab shop.

Video footage from the Lebanese nightclub on Boulevard de Clinchy in the city’s 18th arrondissement shows the frightened 25-year-old crouching inside the shop, begging the owners for help while staff and other customers try in vain to comfort her.

Then a man enters the kebab shop, but the woman makes a gesture to say that he is a member of the group that just attacked her.

The alleged rapist then walks up to her, pats her on the shoulder and orders something to eat.

A guest confronts the alleged rapist and hits him, while staff intervenes to separate them. The man then leaves the restaurant.

Staff and guests continue to comfort the woman until police arrive at the scene and question her about the devastating ordeal before taking her to Bichat Hospital.

The woman, whose dress was allegedly worn “inside out,” also claimed that her cell phone had been stolen.

The footage is likely to serve as key evidence in French authorities’ investigations into the alarming incidents that cast a shadow over the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the city later this week.

The woman was said to have been “disoriented and unable to speak a word of French” when she reported the incident to the police. She was unable to provide any information about the exact location or circumstances of the attack.

“Her memory of the evening is extremely hazy, but she says up to five men raped her,” an investigative source said.

“She was seen wandering around Pigalle in a state of confusion and despair.”

“Staff at a kebab shop saw that she was wearing her dress backwards when she went in to get help,” the source said.

Paris prosecutors declined to comment on the video on Tuesday, but confirmed that a judicial investigation had been launched into allegations of “gang rape.”

They said no arrests had been made so far and did not release descriptions of the suspected attackers.

A spokesman for police union Alliance 75 said the woman was due to return to Australia on Monday but instead stayed in France to assist with the investigation.

The spokesman said: “Using the CCTV footage and other technical evidence, we now need to find out exactly what happened that evening.”

The woman had reportedly booked a flight home for the day after the attack, but is now apparently staying in Paris to assist police with the investigation.

Boulevard de Clinchy, famous for its art and theater offerings, is in the center of Paris’s famous red-light district. Next to the kebab shop where the woman sought refuge, there is a lap-dancing club and a sex shop.

It is also less than five kilometers from the Stade de France, which will be the center of the Olympic Games that open on Friday.

Paris police are trying to prevent fear from spreading among tourists as hundreds of thousands flock to the French capital for the Olympic Games. The Paris public prosecutor’s office confirmed that thorough investigations are underway.

“The investigation into the allegation of gang rape, presumably committed during the night of July 19-20, has been entrusted to the second criminal police district,” the Paris public prosecutor’s office said.

The Alliance Paris Police union said investigators would “do everything to quickly identify the individuals and bring them to justice.”

“Now we need to use video surveillance footage and other technical evidence to find out exactly what happened that evening,” the spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian Embassy in Paris was “conducting urgent investigations with French authorities following reports of an attack on an Australian citizen in Paris”.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade stands ready to provide consular assistance,” it said.

The shocking attack is the latest in a series of rapes in the French capital.

In June, a young British woman was raped during an annual street music festival in central Paris.

According to a police source, the tourist was found crying in the early hours of the morning as she stumbled through the streets of Paris’ 1st arrondissement after being attacked and subsequently robbed.

She clutched her underwear in a state of great despair, hours after leaving a concert at the Olympia Hall – one of hundreds of events taking place across France on June 21 to mark the “Fête de la Musique” – known in English as “Make Music Day”.

She later told police that she had been approached by “several men” and dragged to a remote area where she was raped and her phone was stolen.

Police have now expressed concern that the attack may have been recorded during the event. Similar attacks followed another event.

In early June, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped in an abandoned hangar.

The girl from Courbevoie, a suburb of the Hauts-de-Seine department northwest of the French capital, told police that she had been raped by three teenagers over the weekend, one of whom was her ex-boyfriend.

Investigators heard the gang grab her as she sat with her boyfriend on Place Henri Regnault in Courbevoie and drag her to an abandoned warehouse in the nearby La Défense district to carry out the attack.

According to a police source, during the heinous attack, the teens forced her to perform sexual acts “while making death threats and anti-Semitic remarks” – while the ex-boyfriend allegedly accused the victim of “hiding her Jewish religion from him.”

In January, an American woman told police she was “raped and left on the side of the road” while in Paris for Fashion Week.

The French daily Le Parisien reported that the tourist was raped by two men after taking drugs given to her by one of them.

The latest rape occurred despite increased police presence on the streets of Paris in the run-up to the Olympic Games.

Armed guards were seen patrolling the city’s boulevards and venues, while metal barriers have now been erected along the Seine.

A massive force of about 45,000 police officers from 43 countries and 18,000 soldiers will form the defense system.

But in addition to human efforts, several air units will also be involved in the “unprecedented” operation, including Rafale fighter jets, AWACS surveillance flights, Reaper surveillance drones and helicopters with experienced snipers on board.

Around 1,700 British police officers are already assisting French officers in Paris and Marseille, as well as British sniffer dogs hand-picked by the French authorities.

Images from Paris today show the city behind rows of metal barriers, while locals and tourists dine in restaurants behind fences near the Seine, where the opening ceremony is due to take place on Friday.

The six-kilometer-long metal barrier was erected by the Paris Police Prefecture and will remain in place throughout the Games to prevent and deter unrest.

The anti-terror fence, known as SILT (Steel Belt), represents the first line of defense and was originally erected on July 18.

Anyone wishing to enter the protected area must scan a QR code to enter the cordoned-off part of the city.

In addition, entry into certain zones around some venues is prohibited for all cars; only emergency vehicles are allowed through.