Aussie houseboat horror: Terrified women tormented by wild 'drunks'
A group of nine women say they were scared for their lives after a group of 'drunk' tourists targeted them repeatedly on the Murray River.
A group of women say they were “absolutely terrified” after being targeted by a group of “drunk” men while enjoying Victoria’s long weekend on a houseboat.
The nine women, some of which are pregnant, claim the estimated 12 to 15 men repeatedly harassed them on Saturday, forcing the “rattled” friends to barricade themselves on the boat’s second level as it was moored on the Murray River near Echuca.
The men — reported by 7 News to be tourists staying in the area — first approached the houseboat and asked to board, to which they were “politely told no”, one of the women, who wished to remain anonymous, told 3AW.
“And then a few hours later, we just heard this big thump. We were on the top floor and we looked down and they’d actually climbed on board the boat,” she said, adding that they were “isolated” with no staff and nowhere to flee.
“We were terrified. We asked them to get off. They started urinating on our stuff. They were banging on the windows trying to get in.”
'There were death threats'
The woman guessed three or four men were on board, but said it was hard to tell because the group — one of which is seven months pregnant — had stacked furniture on the stairs in an attempt to “lock” themselves in.
“They then drove off and left people on the boat. They refused to get off. It went for about half an hour so they kept coming back. They drove into the boat,” she told 3AW. “There were death threats. They were saying like ‘I hope you die’, calling us really scary names.”
She claimed the men ended up throwing glass bottles at their boat and were “so intoxicated” that they fell extremely close to their own moving propeller.
Shocking footage of the alleged incident published by 7News shows the smaller boat with the men on board sidling up to the houseboat as the women scream for them to “leave them alone”.
In another clip, a man can be seen trying to jump from one boat to the other, narrowly missing a propeller’s sharp blades.
When asked why they thought they had been targeted, the anonymous woman said she didn’t know for sure, but suspected it was because they were a “group of women alone”.
'Most disrespectful display'
The women have praised their boat’s owner —Moama on Murray Houseboats operator Damien Nunan — for his help, saying he acted very quickly and informed them he unfortunately owned both vessels and had been looking for the men “for hours”.
“I felt threatened to the point where I recruited two friends to be there with me in my interaction with them,” Mr Nunan told 7 News.
“[It was] the most disrespectful display by a group I have ever come across by a long margin. My concern is that if this group is allowed to behave like this without ramifications, it will continue to occur and escalate even further.”
Victoria Police told Yahoo News Australia they are investigating the alleged incident.
Anyone with information – including those with footage of the incident – is urged to contact Moama Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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