Exclusive | Two Hong Kong women among alleged victims of Italian ex-cop accused of Couchsurfing rape spree
Ex-policeman allegedly assaulted number of women who used free accommodation website
Two Hong Kong women have emerged as possible victims of a former Italian police officer accused of using a social networking website to lure unsuspecting tourists to his home near Venice where he allegedly drugged and sexually abused them.
Italian prosecutors allege that Dino Maglio - who is behind bars in Italy awaiting trial for the alleged rape of a 16-year-old Australian girl - drugged and sexually abused at least 16 women from 10 countries who contacted him via Couchsurfing, a website that links tourists with local hosts offering free accommodation.
Among the women who have filed formal complaints against Maglio - who has been sacked by the Italian police - are two Hong Kong women who stayed with him in August 2013.
They allege they were fed a "special strawberry dessert wine" that knocked them unconscious and made them suffer memory loss. "I'm sure he put drugs in our drinks or food but I don't know what he did when we were asleep," Amy (not her real name) of Hong Kong told investigators.
Amy, 24, who stayed at Maglio's flat in Padua, 40km from Venice, with her friend Yvonne (also not her real name) added that the man used his position as a police officer to threaten her when she later posted negative comments about him on the Couchsurfing site.
Prosecutors in Italy are acting on a series of fresh complaints gathered by the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), which is working with the South China Morning Post. Several attempts by IRPI and the Post to get a comment from Maglio's lawyer were unsuccessful.