28 Feb. - 6 March 2002
Issue No.575
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 Feb. - 6 March 2002 Issue No.575 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Cairo ripper, virtual or real?
The rumour of a serial killer prowling the streets has been giving Cairenes nightmares. Nevine Khalil tries to follow the (possibly fictitious) trail"I don't want to frighten u, but I thought u should know more details... women BEWARE, and men pass this message to ur wives, sisters, female relatives... " This is how the e-mail began, warning people of a serial killer, probably a taxi driver, targeting "well-dressed women" on the streets of Heliopolis and Nasr City.
It was not meant to scare, but scare it did.
The well-circulated e-mail simply repeated rumours which had been doing the rounds for more than a month, but which were vehemently denied by the authorities. Other versions, circulated by word of mouth, had the taxi driver sometimes raping, sometimes robbing, sometimes decapitating his female victims.
The brief denial issued by the Ministry of Interior on 14 February has so far failed to stem the rumour. Many suggest that the ministry's intention may have been to preclude a general panic while giving the police time for further investigations. The ministry's statement read: "A security source denies the rumours propagated by some living in Nasr City that there is a dangerous criminal committing a series of murders. Police Stations in East Cairo have not received any reports of this kind."
"I heard it from my fiancée, who heard it from a friend who heard it from a police officer," said Khaled Salah, 31. He took the rumour to heart, warning all his female acquaintances to avoid taking taxis alone.
Although still spreading the word out of caution, Salah says he believes the official denial. If the body count was as many as the reported 28, he said, the authorities "would not be able to hide the facts." As in all other cases, the story trickled down to Salah through the grapevine. Evidence, however, remains almost non-existent.
"There's no proof, no reports of missing persons and an official denial. I don't believe these rumours," argued Dena Hassan, 23, who does not usually commute by taxi. "My best friend was terrified when she called late at night to warn me, but I told her to forget it." Hassan did admit, however, that she might be in denial, seeking to avoid the belief that such heinous crimes could be committed in Egypt. "I don't want to believe it," she said, "otherwise I would become paranoid and never feel safe."
According to hearsay, the killer operates in Heliopolis and Nasr City, but may not be restricted to those areas alone. The alleged victims -- mainly young, attractive women -- are said to have last been seen leaving upmarket hang-outs and discotheques. The e-mail said that the suspect was either "a taxi driver or a good looking guy with a car who picks up girls," possibly from a fanatic religious background or mentally unstable or sexually impotent.
The mangled, decapitated bodies, numbering between eight and 28, were said to have been found at various locations with no signs of assault, rape or theft.
According to stories in the opposition press, investigators arrested a man for starting the rumour, and he claimed that he was only trying to scare his sister into staying at home. She, however, told her friends the gruesome tale. As the rumour spread, it coincided with the discovery of three female corpses in Nasr City and Heliopolis, thus giving weight to the fabricated story. The Ministry of Interior would not verify this version.
In any case, the scare remains.
"I think about it all the time," said Gigi Maher, 29. "I used to take taxis as late as two and three o'clock in the morning on my own. I won't be doing that any more."
The serial killer tale is a chilly one, but there is another story currently doing the rounds which also warns women to be more cautious. Also circulated on the information superhighway two weeks ago, this tale is about a woman whose wits saved her from what she believes was a certain and gruesome death.
The woman, who wrote her story on a flyer and distributed it outside a mall in Nasr City, said she was accosted by a person with the appearance of a businessman who helped her change a flat tire. He then asked for a ride around the corner. Her suspicions were heightened when she realised that he had put his briefcase in the trunk as he was putting the equipment away, so she asked him to wait in the car while she went back to a shop to get something she had forgotten. Coming out of the mall -- escorted by a security guard -- she found the car empty, and later discovered that the air had been let out of her tires on purpose, and that the briefcase contained duct tape, rope and a collection of knives.
"It's nonsense," said Ahmed Farouk, 33. "I've heard this one from three women who swore that they were the heroines in that story. How can that be?" Farouk believes that all the rumours are "a figment of women's imaginations in search of something interesting to talk about."
Neither of the stories can yet be confirmed. The only certain thing, it seems, is that the truth, if it exists, is out there -- somewhere.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page