It was supposed the holiday of a lifetime with her boyfriend, but the dream soon became a nightmare after the machete-wielding rapist tried to attack.
Since the ordeal in May last year, Veronica Cassidy has struggled with post-traumatic stress syndrome and even considered taking her own life, she told XOJane.
Ordeal: Veronica Cassidy and Shane O'Connor were attacked on the first night of their trip
Traumatic: The would-be rapist was armed with a machete like the one pictured
The couple had only been on the island for a few hours before the attack. It was the first time Miss Cassidy's boyfriend, Shane O'Connor, had ever left the U.S. and they were excited about their stay in a villa overlooking the ocean.
As they drove through Kingston from the airport however, they began to realize the dream holiday may be a little rough.
'The town didn't seem to have any tourist presence, now or ever. On our drive from Kingston's airport, a young mother selling fruit advised us to be careful as we traveled ahead,' Miss Cassidy told XOJane.
'But here we were, feeling informed with our guidebooks in hand, stubbornly optimistic for our beach vacation and myself, anyway, overly adventurous from a lifetime of travel "off the beaten path".'
Although she admits that the view was amazing, their villa was dirty and full of bugs, and the couple had reservations about its location as soon as they arrived.
Miss Cassidy, who is also a writer, said they discussed moving straight away but, because they had paid a non-refundable deposit and it was getting late, they decided to wait until morning.
However, after waking from a restless sleep, caused by music still blasting from the beach below, Miss Cassidy stumbled naked towards to the bathroom - only to discover the couple were not alone.
Survivor: Veronica, pictured with Shane, says she found strength from knowing she fought off her attacker
Dream holiday: The couple had been excited about their first vacation together in Jamaica
'When I turned to sit, there stood before me a a tall, thin man, his face illuminated by the near-full moon. This man, who I later learned is named Yuan, stood a foot away from me, smiling from behind the large machete he held samurai-style,' she said.
As the teacher screamed, the man swung the machete at her while grabbing her breast.
'I don't remember well what happened then,' Miss Cassidy, who was left needing therapy. 'There's no visual memory anymore, only the memory of that scream, mine eventually joined by his, this man who had been seconds away from slitting my boyfriend's throat a few minutes before.'
She added that the attacker had been to their villa earlier in the day, on the pretense of selling fruit to them. He had then hidden in the bushes for night to fall.
Miss Cassidy managed to fight off her attacker, and push him out of the bathroom, where she believed he planned to lock her in.
As she hit the attacker and tried to block his machete blows, her boyfriend, armed with a kitchen knife, helped scare him off.
But their ordeal was far from over. For the next three hours they sat huddled in the locked bathroom, with Miss Cassidy, and the walls, still covered in blood, as they waited for help to arrive.
'The terror of that night ended, but its horror haunted me for months to come,' Miss Cassidy said.
After a couple of weeks she developed tendinitis in both wrists and suffered four months of cramps after the post-traumatic stress syndrome compounded the side effects of an IUD that she had been fitted with just before the attack.
Explore: Veronica Cassidy had planned to go off the beaten track in Jamaica but an attack left her traumatised
Her sleep was disrupted with terrifying dreams and Miss Cassidy took to compulsively writing 'This is not my life' and 'Higher power give me peace' in her journal.
The trauma also led her to start having suicidal thoughts, and she recalled trying to swallow a bottle of painkillers and considering other ways to take her life.
Finally, in November, Miss Cassidy sought professional help and has started to come to terms with the horrific experience.
'Remembering that night, there lingers a haunting fear of the dangers that might still lie ahead. Yet that memory also brings pride. I am proud that I fought back,' she said.
She added that she has drawn strength from knowing she was able to fight off her attacker, and break the 'social narrative that says women are always victims'.
The U.S. Embassy has said reports of violent crime and sexual assault against tourists is frequent in Jamaica. It advises travelers to stay away from several areas on the island and to always keep windows and doors of cars and villas locked.
The Embassy added that it can often be hard to bring a case to court because the victim must attend for each stage of the process.
Tourists are also warned about the danger of stray bullets. An American businessman became the victim of this, after being caught in the crossfire of a robbery in June this year.
dailymail.co.uk
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