Last updated: July 11, 2014



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Attack shatters silence of Merindah Rd

Merindah Rd

The area where the young woman walked - Merindah Rd, Baulkham Hills / Pic: Bill Hearne Source: The Daily Telegraph

EVEN late at night it is an unassuming scene of suburban tranquillity - dark but peaceful, deserted yet surrounded by homes housing sleeping families.

However, Merindah Rd at Baulkham Hills was anything but tranquil last Sunday morning when a young woman's life was forever changed by a brutal gang rape. Her ordeal began on this picturesque street when a car full of young men pulled up alongside her - before dragging her into their vehicle and driving to an unknown area to carry out their prolonged and vicious attack.

The horrifying events of last Sunday are at odds with the area, which features churches, manicured lawns and wide leafy streets. When The Daily Telegraph visited Merindah Rd early yesterday morning it was dark and quiet in a way that doesn't heighten fears, just sharpens senses. The stillness of the night is what strikes you.

With only the odd front porch light on, the houses are dark and people are asleep.

The sound of footsteps is magnified - and it seems a scream or the noise of a violent struggle would reverberate through the neighbourhood.

Crickets are all that can be heard as we take the short walk to the main road. In the hour after midnight only two cars pass. The dull amber glow from the street lights above illuminates the way up the hill.

At the top the road becomes strangely dark as the street lights turn white and cast a weaker glow. They become few and far between, standing only every couple of hundred metres.

The other side of the road has no lights at all. A sense of loneliness creeps in.

There's a white picket fence, cars in the driveway of a house and the smell of jasmine in the air. Further along the winding hilly path, the sound of traffic from Windsor Rd can be heard. There's a dog barking in the distance, a bat flies overhead and a possum runs along the power lines. This is all there is to keep the mind from wandering. Everything else is peaceful.

Three streets are crossed before making it to St Michaels Place.

On the corner, just metres from St Michael's Catholic Church, is where this sense of peace and safety was smashed - not just for one 18-year-old woman, but for a whole community.

The victim's ordeal - at least her physical ordeal - ended in nearby Castle Hill, another area of churches, neat lawns and leafy streets, just like where it began.