Wrong place, wrong time? 2 women assaulted by group at Marquee puzzled by unprovoked attack

What was supposed to be a night of partying at Marquee ended up with a trip to the hospital for two women who were beaten up on the dance floor. 

Leeanne O'Donnell, 23, documented the ordeal she went through on Sunday (Sept 4) in a series of Instagram stories. 

She said that she was with a group of friends, including her date Julia Wong, at an event featuring guest DJ Kshmr at the club that morning. 

While the group was dancing on the club's podium just before 2.30am, Wong made eye contact with a man in a white T-shirt who seemed like "he was on some form of substance", O'Donnell told AsiaOne. 

"The next second after they made eye contact, he and another guy believed to be his friend charged towards [Wong]." 

O'Donnell said that some eyewitnesses later told them that the man tried to ask Wong, 25, for her name. 

As the club was very noisy, she leaned over to hear what he was saying. And that's when this man punched her in the face and pushed her off the podium, which was about a metre high. 

When she tried to retaliate, this man and his friend pushed her down to the floor and started kicking her. 

Still in shock, O'Donnell said she tried to push them away.

"It was just an instinct to immediately run in to stop the attack on [Wong], which I think anyone whose partner is being attacked would do," O'Donnell told AsiaOne. 

To her horror, the men turned their attention towards her, pushed her to the ground and started kicking her face. 

That ordeal lasted for around three minutes, said O'Donnell, and the attack ceased only after a light was shone on the group and some bouncers went to help the women. 

In O'Donnell's Instagram story, she said that she's unsure how many attackers there were as her hands were covering her head during the assault.

She reckoned that there were at least three men and they ran out of the club soon after. 

The security guards at the club, she said, told them that they could not identify the attackers as it had been "very chaotic". 

After the attack, the women said they were brought to the club's medical room for some first aid treatment before they were taken to Raffles Hospital for X-ray scans. 

"Me and Julia were in shock and could not recount much of the actual attack," she told AsiaOne, adding that she has been "crying non-stop" since that attack. 

Ironically, while Wong was the first to get attacked, O'Donnell said she ended up with more serious injuries and sustained an injured eye as well as a potential hairline fracture on her right arm, now in a cast.

She said her vision also has some "lines and dots" that developed overnight. 

Wong, on the other hand, had "nothing too serious" and only had a "few bumps on her head". 

So, why were they attacked? 

O'Donnell said she has "no idea" but suspects that it may be because the men were possibly abusing substances, or that it could perhaps be even a "homophobic attack".

In her Instagram bio, she identifies herself as queer. 

She said they have since made a police report over the incident. 

When contacted by AsiaOne, the police confirmed that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing. 

AsiaOne has contacted Marquee for their comment. 

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melissateo@asiaone.com