Two men have been charged with intimidation after nine women on a Murray River houseboat were allegedly terrorised on Saturday, March 11.
The men, aged 26 and 28, were each issued with Field Court Attendance Notices yesterday and are due to appear in Moama Local Court on Thursday, May 11.
A police investigation yesterday led to Humes Echuca, where three marked police cars, two Victorian and one from NSW, were parked near the establishment for more than 90 minutes.
On Saturday afternoon, a group of men on a pontoon boat approached a moored houseboat in Moama the women were on and asked to come aboard.
The women declined.
A few hours later, about 6pm, some of the men climbed on to the houseboat without permission.
Speaking about the ordeal on 3AW, one of the women said they were terrified as the men allegedly urinated on their personal items, hurled abuse and threw glass bottles at their boat.
“We just heard this big thump when we were on the top floor and we looked down and they’d actually climbed onboard the boat,” she said.
“They started urinating on our stuff, they were banging on the windows, there were death threats, they ended up throwing glass bottles that smashed all over the boat.
“One of the girls is seven months’ pregnant. There were multiple pregnant people on the boat.
“They were flashing their genitals too. It was really alarming.”
Both groups were on vessels owned by Moama on Murray Houseboats.
Concerned for their safety, the women locked themselves upstairs and called the owner of Moama on Murray Houseboats, who very quickly arrived to assist the women.
Disturbing footage has since emerged of the incident, where one of the women can be heard pleading with the men to leave them alone.
Moama on Murray Houseboats owner Damien Nunan said this was the most disrespectful behaviour he had ever seen in his 15 years’ experience.
He said the group of men was late in returning the boat.
After receiving a call from the women about 6pm and realising the situation was volatile, he rounded up two mates and took a 10-minute boat ride out to the women, who explained what had happened.
After locating the vessel with the male occupants, Mr Nunan and friends shadowed the men back to the departure point, where he encouraged them to take a taxi back home.
After making the recommendation, he said the group then spoke to him in an intimidating manner.
“I definitely felt threatened,” he said.
“It wasn’t physical but it was a threatening attitude and a way of speaking.
“For me, it was all about how do I diffuse this volatile and dangerous situation.”
After the men left, Mr Nunan alerted police and a few other key community members in Echuca and Moama about the men because he was concerned about the aggression they had shown.