(Via Daily Mail) An American tourist who was attacked in Rio de Janeiro was gang raped in front of her boyfriend, it emerged yesterday.

The young woman and the Frenchman were apparently subjected to a six-hour ordeal by three men after flagging down a public transit van in the Brazilian city.

Wallace Aparecido Souza Silva, left, Carlos Armando Costa dos Santos, center,  and Jonathan Foudakis (*note the phrase on Wallace’s T-Shirt: “Thug Passion”)

The horrific crime has sparked fear among visitors to the metropolis, which is set to host next year’s football World Cup as well as the 2016 Olympics.

A few minutes after the pair of tourists boarded the mini-bus on Friday night, the operators ordered the other passengers to get off and inflicted a ‘party of evil’ on the couple.

The three assailants took turns raping the woman and beating the man, whom they handcuffed and sometimes struck with a metal crowbar, police investigator Alexandre Braga said yesterday.

The men split up the driving, ending up in Rio’s sister city of Niteroi across, where they went on a spending spree with the foreigners’ credit cards.

Once they hit the limit on both cards, spending around $500 at gas stations and convenience stores, the suspects drove the pair back to Rio and forced the woman to fetch another credit card, Mr Braga said.

He said that she did not dare call for help at this point ‘because the young man was still under the suspects’ control and she feared something even worse might happen to him’. (read more)