Sexual Harassment in Banjica Forest: 22 Year Old Arrested

Police arrested S.P. (22) in the Vozdovac municipality on suspicion of committing sexual harassment. The attack happened on Tuesday, in broad daylight, on a path through Banjica Forest, near the Sports Hall on Liberation Boulevard. The suspect was taken to Vozdovac Police Station, where he was ordered held for up to 48 hours.

The victim is a woman aged 44. She was walking along a path through the forest when, according to unofficial information, an unknown man approached her from behind. Without any provocation, he grabbed her buttocks.

The woman started screaming loudly for help. The attacker then fled into the trees, but he did not get far.

The patrol was near the Sports Hall

The victim ran out of the forest onto Liberation Boulevard. Near the Sports Hall, she spotted a patrol of the Intervention Unit and immediately reported what had happened to her. She gave the officers a precise description of the man who attacked her.

Only a few minutes passed between the report and the arrest.

How was the suspect found so quickly?

Officers immediately began searching the area and sealed off the part of Banjica Forest where the attacker had disappeared. Near the scene of the attack, they found a young man matching the description. He was identified, then handcuffed.

It was S.P. (22). At Vozdovac Police Station, he was ordered held for up to 48 hours on suspicion of committing sexual harassment. Until a final verdict, he is only charged with the offense and treated as a suspect, and his full name is not being released.

A green space used daily by joggers and walkers

Banjica Forest is a protected natural area and one of the larger green spaces in Vozdovac. A network of trails runs through it, used by walkers and joggers throughout the day, and one side of the forest borders Liberation Boulevard and the Sports Hall.

That proximity to the boulevard proved decisive in this case. The victim came straight out of the forest onto the road where the police patrol happened to be.

Not the first case in Belgrade

We have reported on sexual harassment in Belgrade before. In one earlier case, a suspect aged 47 was arrested in Zvezdara, also on suspicion of committing the same offense.

Sexual harassment is a criminal offense under Serbia’s Criminal Code, and the suspect in this case remains in police custody until the 48 hour deadline expires.