A rapist and murderer is at large in the Copenhagen suburb of Amager, where many international students live in dorms. The students are worried, and are confused about which precautions should be taken.<\/p>\n
\u00bbI just heard about the rapist today and I am frightened to death,\u00absays Anna (the University Post has changed her name on request), who lives in student-housing in the area, close to the rape locations in Amager. <\/p>\n
Police have linked DNA evidence in the form of semen to one person. He is now considered to have been behind one murder and two rapes in Amager over the last 20 years. A rape 25 September this year has allowed police to make the connection to previous cases.<\/p>\n
Police think there may be more victims.<\/p>\n
\u00bbIt would be naive to think that a man, who kills in 1990 and who commits rape in 2005 and 2010, has no further crimes on his conscience. Of course he has,\u00ab police superintendant Steffen Thaaning Steffensen said to Danish media Politiken.dk recently. <\/p>\n
With a rapist in the neighbourhood, Anna, who is from Poland, is scared.<\/p>\n
\u00bbI have lived in Amager for 2 years and loved it. This is the first time I am feeling uncomfortable here,\u00ab she says. <\/p>\n
She adds that she has learnt to love the area around the Southern Campus for its peace and safety.<\/p>\n
\u00bbI am going to warn all of my female friends and I will definitely avoid going out alone at night, will not talk to strangers and only go where people are in a crowd,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n
Like the many internationals in Amager, she does not know precisely what it is she should do. But she will now pay more attention to her surroundings, she says. \u00bbI usually wear my headphones when I walk around, but I won’t do that anymore,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n
Anna used to have pepper spray with her, but it was taken away from her at Copenhagen airport. <\/p>\n
\u00bbI learnt that pepper spray is illegal in Denmark, but I now feel very insecure without it,\u00ab she says. <\/p>\n
\u00bbThere might be a situation, where I find myself walking alone in the dark and without the knowledge of self-defence I feel powerless\u00ab. <\/p>\n
Young women from other countries may not be able to judge an alarming situation correctly, and feel therefore particularly vulnerable, say students that the University Post talked to.<\/p>\n
\u00bbInternational students are always told how safe Copenhagen is – which is generally true. But at the moment you have to be very suspicious when you are out alone at night,\u00ab says Anna.<\/p>\n
Universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n