The British-born Sikh woman was attacked on her way to work and, during the ordeal near Tame Road in Oldbury, West Midlands, she was allegedly told “you don’t belong in this country, get out”
A man in his 30s has been arrested on suspicion of rape after a Sikh woman reported a “racially motivated attack” while on her way to work.
The victim, reported to be a British-born Sikh aged in her 20s, told officers a racist remark was made to her during the sexual assault in the Tame Road area of Oldbury, West Midlands, on Tuesday.
The perpetrators allegedly told the woman “you don’t belong in this country, get out” as they sexually assaulted her between 8am and 8.30am, the Sikh Federation (UK) said.
West Midlands Police said the man was detained on Sunday evening and remains in custody. The force previously said they were looking for two white men in connection with the attack. Chief Superintendent Kim Madill said: “This is a significant development in the investigation and we want to thank the community for their continuing support.
“The investigation remains ongoing and we would urge people not to speculate as we work to identify and trace all those who may have been involved.”
In a statement released through the Sikh Federation (UK) earlier on Sunday, the victim said she was “truly humbled” by the love and support shown by her local community as she tried to process the incident.
She said: “I want to sincerely thank everyone for supporting me and my family during this very difficult time. We are going through a lot, but the strength and kindness shown by the right people in the community has been incredible, and I can’t thank them enough for being my voice.
“I would never wish this on anyone. All I was doing was going about my day on my way to work, and what has happened has deeply affected us. Through it all, my family has been my rock, and my community has stood strong beside me. The police are doing their best to find those responsible and I truly hope they are caught so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Gurinder Singh Josan, the local Labour MP for Smethwick, previously said the “truly horrific attack” was being treated as a hate crime. Anyone with useful information about what happened should contact the force via 101, quoting log 798 or 9 September.
- It comes after thousands of horrific sexual offences including rape are being reported in British hospitals, new figures obtained by the Mirror show. We sent Freedom of Information requests to 43 police forces in England and Wales asking for the number of reported incidents of sexual assaults and rape recorded at hospitals in their area, to which 28 provided a response. In total, 2,569 reports of sexual assault and 743 of rape were made to the police as having taken place on hospital grounds between January 2022 and January 2025. This is equivalent to more than 1,000 reports of sexual assaults and rape every year.