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HOLLYWOOD · A 39-year-old woman who police say fiercely resisted the three men charged with raping her last week on Hollywood Beach insisted Monday, "I am not a victim."
"I fought back. I wasn't going to allow them to take away my beach. This is my home," said the woman, who did not want her name published. "Those guys picked the wrong girl."
On Monday, her jaw still slightly swollen, she sat outside her Hollywood Beach home and recounted what police say was the most violent incident on the beach in recent memory.
She said she walked to the beach early Wednesday morning to relax and meditate, as she has routinely done for the past year since moving to the area.
"I was doing what anyone else would've been doing if they lived here. Look out there," she said, pointing to the shoreline. "That's my back yard."
She added that she would no longer visit the beach alone at night.
But that night she fell asleep next to a lifeguard stand, as she's done many times before, she said.
About an hour later, around 3:30 a.m., she awoke as two men held her down while trying to rape her, she said.
She kicked and screamed and tried to grab anything to defend herself. That's when she saw a brown, broken bottle sticking up from the sand about an arm's reach away.
"I think karma brought that bottle to me," she said. "I have never seen a bottle on Hollywood Beach, and to have one right next to me is something I can only attribute to good karma."
She managed to cut the face and torso of one of the men, she said. A third man then punched her face and sexually assaulted her. She continued to fight and soon managed to escape. As she ran from the beach, she saw a couple walking down the Broadwalk. They helped her call 911.
Within minutes, police rounded up two of the men after using police dogs to track them down. The third man was captured hours later.
Police arrested Armando Moncadaramos, who turned 20 the day of the attack, Hever Ramos, 21, and Cesar Amador, 21. The men, two of whom work as dishwashers at a Hollywood Beach sushi restaurant, were being held without bail at Broward County's main jail. All three are charged with first-degree sexual battery.
A spokesman with the Broward Public Defender's Office said a judge would likely assign attorneys to the men this week.
On Monday, the woman said she wanted to tell her story after reading comments from readers posted on Sun-Sentinel.com about the attack.
She said many of the comments speculated that she was drunk or homeless, but she said she was neither. She also said she was angry that many remarked about the race and nationality of the men.
"To all you bigots, I say this isn't about race, or economic class, or someone's nationality," she said. "This is about a rape."
The woman said years of treatment she's received as a long-term sexual abuse victim have helped her cope with last week's attack.
"I am already a survivor," she said.
Survivor, repeat victim, whatever :shrug:
"I fought back. I wasn't going to allow them to take away my beach. This is my home," said the woman, who did not want her name published. "Those guys picked the wrong girl."
On Monday, her jaw still slightly swollen, she sat outside her Hollywood Beach home and recounted what police say was the most violent incident on the beach in recent memory.
She said she walked to the beach early Wednesday morning to relax and meditate, as she has routinely done for the past year since moving to the area.
"I was doing what anyone else would've been doing if they lived here. Look out there," she said, pointing to the shoreline. "That's my back yard."
She added that she would no longer visit the beach alone at night.
But that night she fell asleep next to a lifeguard stand, as she's done many times before, she said.
About an hour later, around 3:30 a.m., she awoke as two men held her down while trying to rape her, she said.
She kicked and screamed and tried to grab anything to defend herself. That's when she saw a brown, broken bottle sticking up from the sand about an arm's reach away.
"I think karma brought that bottle to me," she said. "I have never seen a bottle on Hollywood Beach, and to have one right next to me is something I can only attribute to good karma."
She managed to cut the face and torso of one of the men, she said. A third man then punched her face and sexually assaulted her. She continued to fight and soon managed to escape. As she ran from the beach, she saw a couple walking down the Broadwalk. They helped her call 911.
Within minutes, police rounded up two of the men after using police dogs to track them down. The third man was captured hours later.
Police arrested Armando Moncadaramos, who turned 20 the day of the attack, Hever Ramos, 21, and Cesar Amador, 21. The men, two of whom work as dishwashers at a Hollywood Beach sushi restaurant, were being held without bail at Broward County's main jail. All three are charged with first-degree sexual battery.
A spokesman with the Broward Public Defender's Office said a judge would likely assign attorneys to the men this week.
On Monday, the woman said she wanted to tell her story after reading comments from readers posted on Sun-Sentinel.com about the attack.
She said many of the comments speculated that she was drunk or homeless, but she said she was neither. She also said she was angry that many remarked about the race and nationality of the men.
"To all you bigots, I say this isn't about race, or economic class, or someone's nationality," she said. "This is about a rape."
The woman said years of treatment she's received as a long-term sexual abuse victim have helped her cope with last week's attack.
"I am already a survivor," she said.
Survivor, repeat victim, whatever :shrug:
