Girl Rapped Near Trolley Then Rapped Again

A man was charged with raping a adult female on a train outside of Philadelphia as fellow passengers watched, held upwards phones and did aught to intervene, police force said.

The man, Fiston Ngoy, 35, harassed the woman, groped her and somewhen raped her as fellow passengers watched the set on through more than ii dozen train stops last week, authorities said. Constabulary believe no ane called authorities, though they are investigating whether any of the witnesses may have recorded the incident.

Officials said they do non await charges against the bystanders on the train.

Transit officers for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority stopped Ngoy at a train stop, finding him in the center of his assault, SEPTA Law Master Thomas J. Nestel said at a press conference Monday.

"When the doors opened, an officer entered and saw what he believed was a criminal human activity occurring," Nestel said. "He ripped that homo off her and pulled him out onto the platform."

Nestel said both Ngoy and the victim got on the train Oct. xiii at the same stop — the Frankford Transportation Center in northeast Philadelphia. Law say they weren't able to finish the assail until the train reached the 69th Street terminal in w Philadelphia on the Market-Frankford Line, which was about 27 stops later. Nestel said his officers responded within three minutes of the lonely 911 call they received — from an off-duty transportation employee.

Constabulary and other officials were troubled that no one witnessing the assault intervened and held a news conference reiterating the need for people who see something unusual to written report information technology immediately, even anonymously or through the emergency buttons on trains.

"What nosotros want is anybody to be aroused and disgusted and to be resolute about making the organisation safer," Nestel said, adding that it "concerns me" no ane stepped in throughout the lengthy assault that an arrest affidavit shows continued for about forty minutes.

He noted surveillance footage captured the attack and appeared to evidence other passengers possibly recording the attack. "In that location were people witnessing the act with phones in their hands," Nestel said. "People were holding their phone upwardly in the direction of this adult female being attacked."

Despite their inaction, prosecutors treatment the case don't anticipate charging fellow passengers for non intervening, a spokesperson for the suburban Philadelphia district chaser said.

In an emailed statement to The Associated Press, District Chaser Jack Stollsteimer said prosecutors want witnesses to come forward, rather than fearing prosecution, and said: "Pennsylvania law does not allow for the prosecution of a passenger who may accept witnessed a criminal offence."

Elizabeth Jeglic, a psychology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, researches sexual violence prevention. She said if people feel uncomfortable most physically intervening, at that place are other options, such equally calling the police.

"When we accept multiple people, people don't necessarily intervene," she said. "Notwithstanding, more contempo research actually suggests that looking at video footage of more farthermost circumstances that up to 90% of cases we practice see people intervening. So it was actually somewhat of an abnormality in this instance that somebody did not step forward to assist this individual."

Abort records bear witness Fiston Ngoy, 35, is facing a host of charges, including rape.

The arrest affirmation for Ngoy detailed times of the assail, including that during those 40 minutes the woman appears to repeatedly push button Ngoy away.

Nestel would not requite an judge number of witnesses and it was unclear from the affidavit how many passengers were nowadays for those 40 minutes, merely the train line is the busiest route on SEPTA. Authorities take not released the surveillance video.

Investigators said in the affidavit that Ngoy sat down next to the adult female almost a minute later on he boarded the railroad train auto, soon afterward nine:xv p.g. The video shows her pushing him away multiple times until he is seen ripping her pants down at nigh 9:52 p.yard.

Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt, of the Upper Darby Constabulary Department, which is investigating the incident, said officers arrived around x p.thousand.

"In that location was a lot of people, in my stance, that should have intervened. Somebody should have done something," Bernhardt told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Information technology speaks to where we are in society and who would let something like that to take place. So information technology's troubling."

Ngoy was arrested later on existence pulled off the adult female. The victim was taken to a local infirmary.

Co-ordinate to the court documents, the woman told law that Ngoy ignored her pleas to go away. Ngoy claimed he knew the victim and said the encounter was consensual, but he could non remember her name, the arrest affidavit states. His last address was listed as a homeless shelter.

In a statement, SEPTA called the incident a "horrendous criminal act."

"There were other people on the train who witnessed this horrific act, and it may accept been stopped sooner if a rider chosen 911," SEPTA said in the statement, urging people to phone call regime if they witness a crime or anything unusual.

If you lot are a survivor of sexual attack, RAINN offers back up through the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE & online.rainn.org).

Contributing: Associated Press

Girl Rapped Near Trolley Then Rapped Again

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/19/rape-train-philadelphia-occurred-while-bystanders-held-up-phones/8523134002/