Caution needed outside Astorga

[Donna Sch]

http://www.elnortedecastilla.es/leon/201505/18/habilidad-para-esconderse-monte-20150518180802.html

Yes, the same area in which Denise went missing. But at least the Police have a new lead.

 

[nidarosa]

Hi, I am nowhere near good enough at Spanish to read and understand this properly. Could you please rephrase the main points in English for us who can't read it ourselves? Just a couple of sentences. I am a translator and don't trust Google translate any further than I can throw my entire house If you could I would be very grateful.

Thanks,
Linda

 

[whariwharangi]

Hi, I am nowhere near good enough at Spanish to read and understand this properly. Could you please rephrase the main points in English for us who can't read it ourselves? Just a couple of sentences. I am a translator and don't trust Google translate any further than I can throw my entire house If you could I would be very grateful.

Thanks,
Linda

There was an incident Saturday 16 May involving two men who apparently tried to kidnap a 50 year old local woman near Santa Catalina de Somoza - about 10 km west of Astorga. The woman escaped by running then hiding from the men.

There is speculation of intent being either rape or robbery.

The woman stated the men spoke in a foreign tongue ... probably eastern european. She didn't get a good look at the driver because he was wearing a hoodie.

There are suggestions, but no proof, that the missing pilgrim Denise Thiem may have had an encounter with the same men.

 

[nidarosa]

Thank you, @whariwharangi, very much appreciated. These days there are so many links on the forum to articles I can't read for myself, it is a bit frustrating. Thanks again.

 

[Anniesantiago]

There is a huge thread on this topic already.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

This is the most recent article; it is a recap. Use Chrome to open it, and you can use Google translate for translation. You get a better translation if you cut the text (it is in Galician) and paste it into the Google Translate window. If you just translate the article from the URL line, it is nearly unreadable.

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/notici...raptado-denise-thiem/0003_201505G20P12991.htm

 

[Angelo]

There is a huge thread on this topic already.

I Agree.

 

[loveandgratitude]

Caution needed everywhere: robbery with knives, flashers, a pilgrim who has disappeared . . . scary. People don't disappear here in Santa Barbara.

 

[Donna Sch]

Caution needed everywhere: robbery with knives, flashers, a pilgrim who has disappeared . . . scary. People don't disappear here in Santa Barbara.

Actually they do. A quick Google came up with an old bloke who had wandered off (but has been found), a still missing teenage girl and a felon who has escaped. That is just in the last week. Let alone any other older missing persons reports.
It's just that these cases are not personally relevant to you. I can think of at least one person I know that went missing a few years back. Disappeared, very likely dead, never found. Never in the papers either. Just another missing person with a mental illness.
Caution is needed everywhere whether it is the local shops in my case, or the airport or on the camino itself (and I will be able to tell you in 10 days time how safe the Guillena stage of the VDLP is or isn't).

 

[Lachance]

Actually they do. A quick Google came up with an old bloke who had wandered off (but has been found), a still missing teenage girl and a felon who has escaped. That is just in the last week. Let alone any other older missing persons reports.

I guess you're talking about Santa Barbara in the US. Poster you quote gives location as Europe, but Google maps doesn't show any S. Barbara in Europe. Curious...

 

[Deleted member 3000]

People don't disappear here in Santa Barbara.

Perhaps, but 53 were raped and 215 were assaulted in the latest reported year (2012). That is one a week for rapes and four a week for assaults. With a population of about 90 thousand, Santa Barbara is about one-third the size of the pilgrim population on the Camino.

 

[Donna Sch]

Perhaps, but 53 were raped and 215 were assaulted in the latest reported year (2012). That is one a week for rapes and four a week for assaults. With a population of about 90 thousand, Santa Barbara is about one-third the size of the pilgrim population on the Camino.

My town has about 130,000 people. In the most recent crime stats there were almost 2000 assaults and 125 sexual assaults for the year. Per capita it has the highest crime rate of any major city in Australia. What are my chances of being assaulted? Highest in my workplace especially in the emergency department. In the last ten years I have been hit once and that was a confused little old lady who mistook me for someone else. In my day to day life, quite low. I walk, cycle and take public transport everywhere as I don't have a car. Including at night. I just take normal precautions. Stick to the well lit areas, be aware of my surroundings etc. I consider my city to be quite safe despite the statistics. The stats reflect our alcohol consumption and homelessness and increasingly frequently now, use of illicit drugs such as metamphetamine.

 

[LauraK]

Caution needed everywhere: robbery with knives, flashers, a pilgrim who has disappeared . . . scary. People don't disappear here in Santa Barbara.

Please...let us all put this in perspective and quit perpetuating fear. There are hundreds of pilgrims out walking the Camino today and I am 100% sure this is not what they are experiencing. It is a bit like reading your daily newspaper and being afraid to step outside your home because of all of the crimes being reported. These postings have one purpose...to help remind people that they need to be aware.

 

[Angelo]

Yeah, LauraK. Some of the posts here are not even relevant and not helpful. Besides, there has been extensive discussions of the same nature in other threads already.
I'd say take deep breaths and relax, everyone.