A man is in custody after he allegedly raped a woman on a SEPTA train in Philadelphia last week in the presence of other riders, the New York Times reports.
Police were called around 10 p.m. Wednesday after the assault took place on the westbound train in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. A man identified as Fiston Ngoy, 35, allegedly approached a woman and attempted to touch her several times. Despite the victim’s attempts to stop Ngoy, he ultimately took her clothes off and raped her.
Timothy Bernhardt, Superintendent of the Upper Darby Township Police Department, told the Times that surveillance video shows that other riders on the train could have called 911 to alert police.
“I’m appalled by those who did nothing to help this woman,” Bernhardt said. “Anybody that was on that train has to look in the mirror and ask why they didn’t intervene or why they didn’t do something.”
Bernhardt continued, “Were they watching? I don’t know. Again, we’re still going through the video but there was a lot of people, in my opinion, that should’ve intervened. Somebody should’ve done something. It speaks to where we are in society. Who would allow something like that to take place? So it’s troubling but again, we’re working on that and we’re trying to identify anyone that we saw coming on and off the El at that time.”
Njoy been charged with rape, indecent assault, and sexual assault. He is currently being held on $180,000 bail.
