Screeching in the Night

Shrieks and Cries that eminate from the nocturnal shadows & surrounds are nothing to remark upon. One can almost believe intelligent gorillas or creatures from the netherworld are occupying the world outside the walls. It is as if childhood fears of bogeymen or the-thing-under-the-bed have returned to haunt adulthood.

However it is not gorillas or bogeymen, it is humans. Alcohol & worse having depleted their their humanity & inhibitions. Under cover of the post-midnight blackness they fight, love, maul, vandalise, drink and destroy.

Blood curdling screams were heard this particular night, from Three o'clock in the morning until an hour or so before the pre-dawn light. Such was the horrible crescendo of the screeching that one could almost believe that the noise was an animal (or human) in mortal peril. (Anyone who has heard Curlews calling in the night will know what I mean.)

At Half-past Seven in the morning Mine Host is loitering at his front gate (as you do), surveying his front wall for signs of damage or attempted entry, whilst simultaneously admiring the verdant peacefulness of the town in daylight.

This is interrupted by the breathless arrival (at a sprint) of the operator of the government canteen Two blocks away. Gasping for breath he states:
"One of my staff has been raped, what should I do next?"
This being insufficient information to formulate an answer, Mine Host conducts a calm-but-rapid interrogation:
"Where is she now?"
"In the restaurant coldroom" (translation: She hasn't phoned from home to say she won't be reporting for work today due to having been raped, instead the matter is immediate)
"Was she raped right there at work, perhaps in the coldroom?"
"No"
"Was she raped on the way to work this morning?"
"No, it happened when she was out on the streets late last night, she's been too scared to go home, she came straight to work, she says the attack only finised a half-hour ago"

Struggling to comprehend the way this man is handling the situation, Mine Host advises him that the process for dealing with a girl presenting at one's workplace and reported she's been raped is to immediately contact the police and the girl's mother (she was 16 years old).

Nodding breathlessly he sprints off in the direction of his canteen. A few minutes later several police cars converge on the canteen. A minute or so later most police detach from the scene & accelerate toward the hostel for delinquent youth and it's environs. Residents of the hostel decamp at pace in all directions.

She had been "partying" after midnight on the streets with Two older girls she knew, in the company of several young men from the hostel.

The attack had commenced at Three a.m and lasted until Six a.m. (Everybody for Three blocks around had heard the entire attack).

It had been ferocious. She had been dragged from the park into the hostel & most (if not all) residents in the hostel had had their turn.

Mine Host's senior female staff were of the belief that the first sexual encounter was consensual, but that she was unlikely to have agreed to accommodate the entire hostel.

Any sexual encounter, including rape, is a matter for specialist medical examination, but with his layman's eyes Mine Host noted the following: She had obviously endured a shocking psychological experience. She had been beaten very badly and was barely recognisable. She was covered in streaked and spattered blood, mixed with dirt and mud, making it difficult to tell if she had any cuts or bruises. Clumps of hair were missing and blood streaks made it impossible to see her original hair colour. Her head was swollen from the beating such that if she had a hat at home it would no longer fit on her head. Her nose & teeth were likely smashed. And so on.

The beating had been quite vicious.
Her father is a senior public servant.

The Two friends she was out with are very hard cases. Both are aged over Twenty and have served jail time. It is possible they were amused to spend a few days befriending a well raised girl, then throwing her to those wolves.