Underage girls sexually assaulted during Brabant ghost tour

A ghost tour in Best was cut short on Saturday evening after four underage girls were grabbed and molested by three adult men, the Oost-Brabant police confirmed to newspaper AD.

The victims, aged 12 to 17 years, were dressed in costumes and stood at the canal with another girl and two adults to frighten participants during the tour. At around 9:00 p.m. three men, aged around 25 years, came up to the group and grabbed the older girls' breasts and buttocks. The younger girls were also grabbed. 

The girls screamed, but it took the adults a moment to realize that something was wrong. "It takes a while before you realize they're screaming for something else", Sil Beelen, who escorted the group of girls, said to the newspaper. "You're just too late. You do not expect it." While Beleen was chasing one of the men away, another again grabbed a girl. The men were in the company of a woman, Beleen said. "She distracted us, which made it less noticeable."

When the police arrived, the three men and woman had already fled. They managed to get away, despite a police search. "The girls were of course shocked and given their emotional state it was decided to talk to them later", a police spokesperson said to AD. 

The girls were not injured, but are badly shaken, Beelen said. They do not know the perpetrators, but have manged to find out more about them. "We're going to discuss that with the police."