Sex attack horror as 'gang of seven Syrians punch woman in the face and assault her in German park before gardener rescues her'

A gang of seven Syrians allegedly punched a woman in the face and assaulted her in a German park before a gardener rescued her.

The woman, 21, said she was sitting on a lawn at an allotment garden park in Chemnitz, in the Sachsen state in eastern Germany, when seven young men approached and hurled insults at her around 6.10pm on Saturday.

They reportedly started punching her in the face before touching her inappropriately under her skirt and trying to drag her into a dead end. 

'I was afraid of being raped,' the blonde woman told German newspaper Bild.

A gardener, 30, said she and her boyfriend, 22, heard the woman scream: 'Help leave me alone. Just go away.' They rushed to her aid, but the 22-year-old was also beaten by the gang before they fled the scene. 

The victim and her rescuer suffered minor injuries. 

The gardener, who wants to stay anonymous, said that the perpetrators threatened that they had a knife and that they would 'come back'. 

'We now have a bad feeling,' she said.

Police later arrested five of the seven alleged attackers aged 15, 16, 17, 19 and 23.

'They are Syrian nationals. The five people were temporarily arrested and taken to a police station,' a police spokeswoman said in a statement.

'The Chemnitz criminal investigation department has taken over further investigations on suspicion of sexual assault and grievous bodily harm.'

She added about the attack: 'The woman defended herself loudly and vehemently against the attackers, which is why an acquaintance, who was in a nearby garden, became aware of the attack.

It is understood that the Syrians approached the woman after visiting the outdoor pool next door to the allotment gardens. 

The boys aged 15 and 16 are said to have been the main attackers and were brought before a judge on Sunday. The local authorities have not yet announced whether they were sent to prison. 

The three other suspects, aged 17, 19 and 23, were released on Saturday on the orders of the public prosecutor.

'The suspicion of sexual assault and dangerous assault is primarily directed against the two people,' the police spokeswoman told local media.