A British woman aged 40 was rushed to hospital yesterday morning after being repeatedly stabbed in the holiday resort of Albufeira. She was discharged later that day, confirmed a source from Faro hospital.
According to news reports, her attacker, also British and aged 22, was found shirtless and barefoot after the attack at a nearby bus stop. He is now in custody and due to be heard in court today (Friday).
The woman is meantime being receiving consular assistance.
A Foreign Office spokesman quoted in the Daily Mail newspaper said: “’We are aware of the arrest of a British national on 29 May in Portugal. We stand ready to provide consular assistance.’
The full horror of the attack was described in some detail this morning by Correio da Manhã newspaper, which had succeeded in talking to locals who discovered the woman in the early hours of Thursday morning.
She was apparently running bleeding through the street where the attack had taken place, and stopped nearby at the door of Susana Santos to try and get help.
“All the wounds she had were on her back,” said Santos, who immediately covered the woman in a blanket and stayed with her until the arrival of rescue services.
The attack happened a little before 6am on Thursday and followed a night of drinking in the infamous Oura district of town. The 22-year-old British man, identified only as “Shane” – a long-time resident who lived with his grandparents in Rua Ilha de Santiago – was said to be celebrating his 22nd birthday.
According to CM, “Shane and the victim had been talking and drinking together. After this, the young man took the woman to the house of his grandparents – also British and in their 70s”.
A disagreement followed which could have been related to sex, suggests CM, after which “Shane took hold of a kitchen knife and stabbed the woman at least 10 times”.
Described by neighbours as a quiet young man who didn’t get into trouble, CM adds that when policemen caught up with the attacker he was at a bus stop around 300 metres from his grandparents’ house, “barefoot, bare-chested and covered in blood”.
He appeared to be under the effects of alcohol and drugs.
“He didn’t offer any resistance” to police, said CM, and when questioned about the hideous attack “did not remember anything”.
As the GNR gather evidence – including the knife used in the attack – the victim was reported to have been discharged from hospital.
CM reports that despite the frenzied nature of her attack, the woman managed to get out of the house to run for help.
Her cries were heard “all over the neighbourhood”, added CM.
