The intersection at Palmetto Avenue and Garden Boulevard in Mona, St Andrew, where a female abduction victim was thrown from a car yesterday.

While the police are insisting that they have not received any widespread reports of rape and abduction, another woman was yesterday taken against her will and later thrown naked from a car in Mona, St Andrew.

While residents suspect the victim was also raped, police have released little detail beyond confirming the incident.

The victim, said to be in her late 20s, was dumped near the intersection of Garden Boulevard and Palmetto Avenue in the community.

"She was seen lying on the sidewalk, resting her head on a pair of pants, before somebody came and gave her a sheet to cover up herself," a resident told The Gleaner.

Head of the St Andrew Central Police Division, Superintendent Terrence Bent, said the matter was being investigated by the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse.

This incident is at least the third case of abduction that has occurred in that middle-class community.

Two weeks ago, a female student of a tertiary institution was abducted in Mona; another woman was taken from the community and then raped nearby.

Gang-initiation ritual

In light of the grave attacks against the nation's women, one voluntary organisation is examining whether the incidents are a ritual for initiation into criminal gangs.

Joyce Hewett, immediate past president of Woman Inc, said about five years ago, the organisation had to counsel several females who had been victims of similar acts carried out by a gang.

She said women were abducted from communities in St Andrew and taken to a house in the Corporate Area where they were then raped.

"They would abduct and rape women to get into the gang," she said.

"Now I have to question if this is happening again," she added.

At the same time, Hermione McKenzie, president of the Association of Women's Organisations in Jamaica, said the rights of women were being taken away.

McKenzie said criminal activity was crippling the freedom of women, many of whom are breadwinners.

"The only response we have been getting from the police is to restrict ourselves. That's problematic," she said.

During October, the Crisis Centre, operated by Woman Inc, counselled five women who had been raped. That figure was an increase by one when compared to September.

Last week, the police said they were not downplaying the current acts of violence against women, and that abduction had decreased by some 40 per cent this year compared to 2007.

Since January, police statistics have shown that there have been 57 abductions. Of that figure, 56 persons were raped. Last year, the statistics show, 125 persons were abducted with 121 of those cases including rape.