Heliopolis prosecutors referred Hany A. to an urgent criminal trial on charges of harassment and cutting a woman in her face with a bladed weapon in a Heliopolis mall.
Two years after the attacker had sexually harassed Somaya Tarek Ebeid, known in the media as the “Heliopolis mall girl,” the same harasser stabbed her in the face in mid-October, as a revenge for filing a complaint against him.
The incident goes back to October 2015 when Ebeid published a post on Facebook claiming she had been sexually harassed by a man in a Heliopolis mall.
Ebeid said she then filed a complaint against the harasser at the police station. However, the officers did not offer any help, so she resorted to speaking herself. Ebeid published a video of the incident, recorded by the mall’s surveillance cameras.
The video shows a man talking to Ebeid who then slaps her on the face before security personnel intervene to prevent him from hurting her further.
In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY) in October, Ebeid expressed dissatisfaction at the weak punishment given to her harasser, who was sentenced to two weeks in prison after he was acquitted of the sexual harassment charges.
Ebeid recounted the incident to AMAY saying it was, “3 PM [on Sunday], as I was entering a pharmacy. I was surprised by someone calling my name. When I looked back, I found the person who (previously) harassed me in the mall. I entered the pharmacy quickly, bought medicine, and then tried to run to my car before he caught me. But he ran after me and stabbed me with a knife. He was tracking me after he left prison in preparation for the attack.”
“The defendant caused a 20 cm-long facial wound that required 50 stitches,” she said, adding, “I underwent a LE 60,000 surgery with the financial help of some friends.” She explained that her face will require at least six cosmetic surgeries over the span of a year to return to normal.
“I never thought he would keep track of me for two years and try to slay me in broad daylight with such perseverance,” she continued.
She demanded that the judiciary be more deterrent in sexual harassment incidents.
In October, Cairo was reported as the most dangerous megacity for women, according to an international poll carried out by Reuters.
Edited Translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
