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Death In Jail Of Brutal Sex Attacker Allows Young Mum Victim To Finally Breathe Freely

A Ukrainian TV presenter traumatised after a nearly-naked man savagely beat her and then tried to rape her in a sleeper train in front of her son has said that the terror that she had been living with ever since vanished after she was told he had died in prison.

The story of Anastasia Lugovaya took centre stage in a campaign for more safety on trains after she shared the details on social media, which quickly went viral.

Also in the wake of her ordeal she kept a diary of her struggle to cope with the trauma and the shock not only of the violent attack – but also about the fact it was witnessed by her young son, whose age at the time was also not revealed.

@nastyalugova/Newsflash

The young woman, who is a presenter on the TV channel Inter, had been travelling on the Mariupol-Kyiv train with her little son when she was attacked by a man named Vitaly Rudzko on the night of 1st August 2020.

Speaking about the shocking ordeal on social media, she said: “An unknown person made his way to our compartment. He was dressed only in underpants. He blocked the door and began to beat me. He pressed me to the bed. He choked me. My son woke up when I started to scream.

“My son started to shout at the man and asked him not to beat me. I was trying to calm my son, and the naked man with an erection was stroking my legs. When I resisted, he told me to be a good girl so I would not suffer anymore.

@nastyalugova/Newsflash

“I needed to somehow get the man out of the compartment so my son would not see this. I suggested to him that we should leave. So we left, and he took me to his compartment. In his compartment, I saw a melon was on the table with a knife sticking out of it. Then I thought, this man would not only rape me, but he could also stab me to death.

“I heard my son crying, and I thought that this would be an opportunity to escape. So I told him that I needed to go to my son to stop him from crying since he may wake everyone on the train. He agreed but said that he would come again. I left his compartment running. I took my son, and we both ran barefoot to get help.

“I ran straight to the conductor. She was sleeping, and she did not open the door. I knocked on everyone’s door. Sadly, no one answered to help me. I saw him running towards us. We ran to the conductor of the other carriage. That was when we finally were saved from the man.”

@nastyalugova/Newsflash

When the train arrived in Kiev, Anastasia and her son were met by police officers who immediately detained the attacker.

After Anastasia’s Facebook post, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko, and the top management of the Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) turned their attention to the case.

The news outlet Life reported that even after Rudzko was put behind bars, Anastasia did not feel safe, and she was afraid for her life.

@nastyalugova/Newsflash

After the incident, Anastasia’s son had to get psychological help, and she decided to keep a diary on Instagram about her experiences, speaking out against violence.

Anastasia shared the news that helped her breathe freely about the man’s death on 20th April. She noted that Rudzko, who attacked her, died in a pretrial detention centre on 13th April.

She shared the following statement on her Instagram, saying: “The trial was postponed due to the death of the accused. We were informed that Vitaly Rudzko died on 13th April. I will not be too emotional, but I want to say that the fear in which I lived all this time, that made me worry about what would happen if Rudzko would get out of prison, whether he would find me, how I would continue to live… This fear, died with him.”

@nastyalugova/Newsflash

Local news outlet Strana reported that the preliminary cause of death is cancer. But this is still to be confirmed.

The next court session reportedly will take place on 19th May. Strana reported that Anastasia would attend the hearing and follow the case closely as she is suing not only Vitaly, but also Ukrainian Railways, which, in her opinion, should have done more to help her.

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