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Hunter College professor recounts terrifying machete attack in Jamaica
Veronica Cassidy tells the Daily News how her exotic getaway quickly turned into a hellish ordeal when she walked into a bathroom and encountered a man who slashed at her repeatedly with a machete. She has decided to share her story after experiencing severe physical and psychological trauma that forced her into an in-patient treatment facility.
A Brooklyn college professor spoke publicly for the first time Saturday about how she fought off a machete-wielding attempted rapist while she was on a vacation in Jamaica.
Veronica Cassidy, a Hunter College adjunct professor, told the Daily News how the exotic getaway quickly turned into a hellish ordeal when she walked into the bathroom naked and encountered a tall, skinny man in the middle of the night.
“It was like being in a nightmare,” said Cassidy, 27.
The light from a full moon shined directly on his smiling face as he stood there, gripping a raised machete aimed for her chest.
“It was about a beat — one breath — and I just screamed,” said Cassidy. “And as soon as I screamed, that’s when he started hitting me with the machete.”
Cassidy, of Fort Greene, loved taking vacations off the beaten path, so heading to a remote villa with her boyfriend, Shane O’Connor, last May seemed like the perfect getaway. But the beauty around them belied what lay in wait.
When confronted by the machete man, Cassidy recognized him as Yuan, who had appeared at the couple’s villa door about two hours earlier trying to make conversation.
As the weapon came at her again and again, cutting her arms and legs so that blood splattered on the walls of the narrow bathroom, Cassidy immediately reacted and tried to push him away.
“My big concern was that if he took one more step into the bathroom, he would be able to close and lock the door,” she remembered. “I fought instead of trying to retreat. I started hitting him and blocking him.”
After she fended the attacker off, her beau rushed over and threatened the man with a knife. The pair eventually scared their intruder away.
“He started screaming, a high-pitched sort of scream, which made the whole thing a lot more terrifying,” she said.
About three hours after locking themselves in the bathroom and calling her mother and the police, Cassidy and O’Connor were rescued and fled Jamaica.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...#ixzz2Zh1HuRSk
Veronica Cassidy tells the Daily News how her exotic getaway quickly turned into a hellish ordeal when she walked into a bathroom and encountered a man who slashed at her repeatedly with a machete. She has decided to share her story after experiencing severe physical and psychological trauma that forced her into an in-patient treatment facility.
A Brooklyn college professor spoke publicly for the first time Saturday about how she fought off a machete-wielding attempted rapist while she was on a vacation in Jamaica.
Veronica Cassidy, a Hunter College adjunct professor, told the Daily News how the exotic getaway quickly turned into a hellish ordeal when she walked into the bathroom naked and encountered a tall, skinny man in the middle of the night.
“It was like being in a nightmare,” said Cassidy, 27.
The light from a full moon shined directly on his smiling face as he stood there, gripping a raised machete aimed for her chest.
“It was about a beat — one breath — and I just screamed,” said Cassidy. “And as soon as I screamed, that’s when he started hitting me with the machete.”
Cassidy, of Fort Greene, loved taking vacations off the beaten path, so heading to a remote villa with her boyfriend, Shane O’Connor, last May seemed like the perfect getaway. But the beauty around them belied what lay in wait.
When confronted by the machete man, Cassidy recognized him as Yuan, who had appeared at the couple’s villa door about two hours earlier trying to make conversation.
As the weapon came at her again and again, cutting her arms and legs so that blood splattered on the walls of the narrow bathroom, Cassidy immediately reacted and tried to push him away.
“My big concern was that if he took one more step into the bathroom, he would be able to close and lock the door,” she remembered. “I fought instead of trying to retreat. I started hitting him and blocking him.”
After she fended the attacker off, her beau rushed over and threatened the man with a knife. The pair eventually scared their intruder away.
“He started screaming, a high-pitched sort of scream, which made the whole thing a lot more terrifying,” she said.
About three hours after locking themselves in the bathroom and calling her mother and the police, Cassidy and O’Connor were rescued and fled Jamaica.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...#ixzz2Zh1HuRSk
i was just gwine post this 
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