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Woman 'raped' on train while other passengers stood by and did nothing

A woman has been allegedly raped on a train with police baffled why other passengers did nothing to help her.

Police in Upper Darby, in Philadelphia, were called to the 69th Street terminal on Wednesday about 10pm after reports of an assault on a train, Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt of the Upper Darby Police Department said.

Supt Bernhardt said an employee of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority noticed “something wasn’t right” with a woman on the train.

Fiston Ngoy, 35, is pictured.
Fiston Ngoy, 35, has been charged with rape. Source: NBC Philadelphia

SEPTA police waiting at the next stop found the woman and arrested a man. The woman was taken to hospital.

Supt Bernhardt called the victim an “unbelievably strong woman” who provided police with a lot of information. She did not know her attacker, he said.

“She’s on the mend,” Supt Bernhardt said.

“Hopefully she will get through this.”

Behaviour of bystanders described as 'troubling'

The entire episode was captured on surveillance video that showed other people on the train at the time, Supt Bernhardt said.

“There was a lot of people, in my opinion, that should have intervened; somebody should have done something,” Supt Bernhardt said.

“It speaks to where we are in society; I mean, who would allow something like that to take place? So it’s troubling.”

Fiston Ngoy, 35, has been charged with rape, aggravated indecent assault and related counts, according to Delaware County court records. Supt Bernhardt said he is known to both SEPTA and Upper Darby police.

SEPTA issued a statement calling it a “horrendous criminal act” and urging anyone witnessing such a thing to report it.

“There were other people on the train who witnessed this horrific act, and it may have been stopped sooner if a rider called 911,” SEPTA said.

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