A 17-year-old girl that is in her final year as a pupil at a secondary school in the West Flemish city of Bruges has been sexually assaulted while at a bar in the Greek capital Athens. Her alleged assailant is a 32-year-old professional footballer. The players is an Israeli national, but plays football for a Greek club. The girl was in Athens on a school trip.
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Bruges schoolgirl (17) sexually assaulted by Israeli footballer in Athens bar
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News of the assault was first reported in the Greek media and has since been confirmed by the Belgian Foreign Ministry. The footballer, a goalkeeper, was detained by police and has been sacked by his club.
Police were called to a bar in the Kolonaki district of Athens at around 2am on Wednesday morning. Trouble had broken out between a group of Belgian youngsters and a footballer. The youngsters accused the footballer of having sexually assualted a 17-year-old girl.
The girl’s friends witnessed the assault and reportedly attacked the alleged assailant. They then contacted the staff from their school that were with them on the trip and also the police. The police took the 32-year-old goalkeeper with them to the police station where his alleged victim identified him.
The Belgian Embassy was contacted and the Belgian Foreign Ministry says that the girl is being given consular assistance and the embassy is closely following the case.
Sexual assault and possession of drugs
The Greek police have reportedly told local media that during a night out the footballer started flirting with the girl. When he saw that the girl was under the influence of drink, he tried to convince her to have sex with him. When the girl rejected his advances, the footballer persisted and then sexually assaulted the girl.
The girl and her classmates were in Athens on a trip organised for pupils in their final year of secondary school. As well as the goalkeeper 5 other people were detained.
These were one of his teammates and 4 of girl’s classmates that had confronted him after the alleged assault. The Greek media report that the footballer has also been arrested for possession of narcotics after police found 1.5 grams of heroine in his possession.
The players’ club has terminated his contract with immediate effect. The teammate that was with him when the incident took place has also been given his marching orders.