When Annie Makeeva set out from London on a solo trip to Vietnam in December 2022, she never imagined she would be sexually assaulted by a pair of violent “incels” – men who blame women because they are unable to find a sexual partner.
It happened on the first day of her holiday, after Annie had cycled 10km (six miles) into the remote Cat Tien National Park, in the south of the country.
“I decided to cycle along the jungle track and then hike to Crocodile Lake which is their star attraction. I stopped at the end of the track and I saw two guys there – fellow tourists, I assumed.”
But minutes later they followed her into the jungle and attacked her.
‘I was shouting but realised no-one could hear me’
“As they walked past me the first man reached out and grabbed me.
“He then said something in Vietnamese to his friend who was on the other side of me. And I looked to see if this friend was coming to my rescue, or was he also going to attack me. And it turns out, yes, he wanted to attack me as well.
“They were both groping me. I shouted for help and realised no-one could hear me.”
Annie, who is from west London, said she got “really scared” when the men began to restrain her and tried to push her down to the floor. She managed to break free and hide behind a tree.
When one of the men again caught hold of her and looked back to his friend for a moment, she punched him hard on the back of the neck, disorientating him.
One of the men who attacked Annie refers to himself as “Satan” and keeps a running tally of the women he has assaulted [BBC]
At this point Annie got out her phone to take a photograph of the men, and this prompted the other man to offer her money to keep quiet.
When she wouldn’t take the money, the power balance shifted and the men began to back off. They made off the way they had come.
Annie then had to decide whether to go in the same direction as the men to where she had left her bike, and cycle 10km back to the hotel, or try to go another 5km onwards to where she knew there would be a park ranger and potentially other tourists who might help her. She decided on the latter.
BBC London has seen a photo of Annie’s bruised upper torso. She did not want this image to be used in this story.
The men were eventually detained by police at the same hotel where Annie was staying.
She says the police decided it was an opportunistic rather than planned attack and it is not clear what penalty, if any, they faced.
Annie contacted the Foreign Office the next day. A spokesperson told the BBC: “We supported a British woman in Vietnam and were in contact with the local authorities.”
Annie told BBC London that when she rechecked the Foreign Office’s advice for female travellers in Vietnam, the guidance had been updated from what it said before her visit.
Struggling to come to terms with what had happened to her, Annie decided to try to find out whether the men had done this before.
She had been encouraged to take a photo of the men’s confiscated ID cards at the hotel and when she returned to the UK she used this information to look up their social media accounts.
What she found horrified her.
“It’s full of violent imagery. It’s extremely misogynistic, it promotes violence against women, violence against western tourists specifically.
“There are pictures of weapons, including handmade weapons, target practice. They describe women as ‘sluts’ and ‘livestock’. And they also keep a tally of women they have attacked. They boast about their attacks and they make fun of us. It’s really chilling.”
‘An echo chamber of violence against women’
One of the men’s social media accounts shows an image of a naked woman being beheaded and the words “the future of women”. Another is full of obscene videos of him masturbating to pornography.
“They’re incels. They’ve posted on their social media accounts explaining that they haven’t been able to find someone to date, someone to be intimate with. They have created this echo chamber of violence against women.
“They made it very difficult for me to go back to my regular life. I stopped hiking. I didn’t like to leave my house at night or really any time,” says Annie, holding back tears.
“I became hypervigilant and that is really exhausting. Can I cross the park to go to my yoga class? Who is behind me on the Tube? Can I even trust the colleague who gets in the lift with me?”
Twelve attacks
Annie, who works as a translator, says she wants to drive awareness of male violence towards women.
“I also want to protect any women travelling to that area, any time soon.”
She added: “There may be other women out there were attacked who don’t know by whom and why.”
The attack has had a profound impact on Annie’s confidence [BBC]
The BBC has contacted the Vietnamese police and the men themselves, via their social media accounts, for comment. So far there has been no response.
Annie is certain there are more victims – something that’s evident from the men’s social media activity.
“In total there have been eight attacks against western tourists, three against local women and one against a Chinese tourist,” says Annie.
“I know that are there other victims out there. I feel extremely lucky in a way because the situation could have been a lot worse.”
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