Passengers of the Philadelphia train who witnessed a homeless man rape a stranger, some filming on their cellphones, will not face charges for failing to intervene, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Fiston Ngoy was 35, was charged with rape and related offenses following the attack that sparked global outrage.
As many as 10 bystanders on the train did nothing during the assault, except pull out their phones to film the attack. Police do not believe a single witness dialed 911. They are also investigating whether some bystanders filmed the attack.
‘It’s still an open investigation, but there is no expectation at this time that we will charge passengers,’ Margie McAboy, spokeswoman for the Delaware County District Attorney’s office, told DailyMail.
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said prosecutors would rather witnesses come forward with information, rather than stay silent in fear of repercussions.
‘Pennsylvania law does not allow for the prosecution of a passenger who may have witnessed a crime,’ he said.
Ngoy and the victim both got on the train at the same stop on Wednesday night in North Philadelphia and harassed her for more than 40 minutes. That harassment turned to groping and eventually rape.
While there were witnesses on the train, the only 911 call was made by an off-duty transportation authority employee. Within three minutes of that call officers arrived and pulled the man off the woman.
Police have not disclosed how many witnesses to the assault there were. The train made 27 stops on the route during the time of the assault.
Upper Darby Police Department Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said the footage showed other riders were on the train.
‘There was a lot of people, in my opinion, that should have intervened. Somebody should have done something,’ Bernhardt said.
‘It speaks to where we are in society and who would allow something like that to take place. So it’s troubling.’
SEPTA Transit Police Chief Thomas Nestel told Philadelphia radio station WPHT that officials reviewed surveillance footage to see if anyone held a phone up to their ear, indicating they might be calling 911.
‘Instead, what we saw was people holding their phone up as if they were recording or taking pictures.’
According to the DailyMail, Ngoy, who gave his address as a Philadelphia-based homeless shelter, is a Congolese national present in the US illegally after overstaying a student visa that expired in 2012.
Court records show that Ngoy had multiple arrests dating back to 2015 and two misdemeanor convictions, one for controlled substances and one for sexual abuse.
Ngoy pleaded guilty to the sex charge in 2017 in Washington DC and was sentenced to 120 days in jail, and was then placed in immigration detention in January 2018.
An immigration judge allowed him to stay after an appeals board found that his sex crime was not a ‘serious crime’ that made him eligible for removal.
Ngoy is being held at the Delaware County Prison in Pennsylvania. His bail is set at $180,000, and he has not hired an attorney or requested a public defender, court records show.
He is scheduled to next appear in court on October 25.
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