German woman robbed, raped and left tied naked to a pole in Rome

A 57-year-old German has been robbed, raped and subsequently left naked and tied to a pole in Rome.

The woman was found by a taxi driver in the tourist spot of Villa Borghese, in the heart of the Italian capital, on Monday night around 1 am local time. She was unable to scream as her assailant had put a handkerchief in her mouth before fleeing the scene.

The victim, who has not been named, was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors confirmed she had been sexually assaulted.

Police are looking for the suspect, thought to be a man in his 20s, probably a non-Italian national, news agency Ansa reported.

The woman has been living in Rome for six months. She told authorities her assailant took some €40 (£35) before raping her.

The mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, took to Twitter to condemn the latest episode of sexual violence to occur in the capital.

"Once again, violence against women," she wrote. "The umpteenth, monstrous, ignoble and unacceptable act that must not be left unpunished".

Earlier this month, a 20-year-old Finnish national working in Rome as a baby sitter was allegedly raped after spending a night out with friends in Rome. Police arrested a 22-year-old Bengali man who lived and worked in Italy.

The suspect is believed to have attacked the woman after offering to escort her home. During the car journey, the man tried to have sex with the woman, who started shouting.

The suspect then dragged her behind a bus parked near Termini train station, where he allegedly raped her. He then stole some money from her wallet and fled.

The alleged rape took place days after an Ivorian man was arrested after he tried to rape an American tourist in a park in Rome.

The whole peninsula has been witnessing a string of rape cases that shocked the nation in the past weeks.

An Italian man raped a female doctor after he pretended to be sick so he could gain access to a hospital in Sicily on Monday (18 September), local media reported.

Two Italian policemen are currently being investigated after being accused of raping two US students after escorting them from a nightclub in Florence.

Earlier this month, the gang-rape of a Polish tourist and a transgender woman rocked the tourist town of Rimini.

Four people were arrested after being accused of raping the Polish woman while beating and robbing her husband and forcing him to watch the sexual violence. The gang was also accused of raping a Peruvian transgender woman on the same night.

Poland has called for the extradition of those accused of raping the 26-year-old Polish woman. Those arrested include a 20-year-old Congolese man who had arrived in Italy in 2015. The other alleged gang rapists are two brothers aged 15 and 17 and a 16-year-old boy.

The recent cases of rape have reignited a debate on immigration in Italy, with far-right movements calling for a halt to immigration and chemical castration for the alleged rapists.

Following the latest case in Rome, the leader of the far-right Lega Nord political party, Matteo Salvini, wrote on Twitter:"Enough, this has become an epidemic!"