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Dozens of Australian women receive used condoms, vile letters in mail
Dozens of Australian women who attended the same private girls school have received used condoms and threatening messages in the mail in what authorities are investigating as a “targeted attack.”
About 65 women who attended Kilbreda College Mentone, a Catholic high school near Melbourne, in the late 1990s have received the disturbing mail over the past two months, 9NEWS reported.
Police said whoever is behind the sick act apparently obtained the victims’ addresses using a student-created yearbook from the class of 1999, according to the Guardian.
“It’s quite possible this yearbook, which had addresses on it, may have been found by someone who was not associated with the school and may have just thought it … (was) a joke to start with and now it has become quite serious,” Victoria police Detective Senior Sgt. Grant Lewis said Wednesday, the outlet reported.
“We’re keeping an open mind in relation to any relationships to the school or the students, or someone who has no association to the school whatsoever,” he added.
Lewis said some of the letters were handwritten and some were typed, but that all contained “suggestive and threatening… sexualized” messages.
The first incident was reported on March 20 and the most recent mailing was received on Monday.
One of the victimized women identified herself by her first name, Bree, whose mother opened the envelope and noticed its revolting contents.
“Her reaction was quite shocked and she was quite upset,” Bree said, according to the Guardian.
“I was very freaked out [and] didn’t sleep that night. The next day I heard of another girl who had received the same or similar type of letter and then there was another one.”
Bree said the letter she received contained a sexually graphic message and that she created a Facebook page that led additional women to come forward with similar accounts.
“It was completely disgusting — not something that you would expect in the mail,” she said.
“Some of our parents are quite elderly and some parents are sick and some of the girls are unwell at the moment. It’s just the last thing anybody needed,” Bree added.
“We can’t think of anybody who has a grudge against us.”
Kilbreda College Principal Nicole Mangelsdorf said the incidents were not related to any data breach at the school.
“(I am) appalled by this despicable act and condemn it in the strongest possible terms while offering support to any former student who needs it,” Mangelsdorf said, 9NEWS reported.
Lewis said investigators are using DNA and handwriting analysis to try and track down who is behind the disgusting act, which police said was being treated as a “targeted attack.”
“It is believed that most of those who reported the material have received multiple letters, all with the suspected used item included,” police said in a statement.
The Bayside Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team are appealing to the public for help in solving the crime.
