It was midday and there were other people in the subway car. It should have been safe.
He had overslept, missed his stop and ended up at the end of the Piccadilly line. But still, it should have been safe on a weekend morning in a bustling city. But again, unfortunately it wasn’t like that.
Last week Ryan Johnston was sentenced to nine years in prison for raping a 20-year-old woman on the subway in front of a horrified French tourist and her young son. It disturbs your career.
Something about this story, which unfolds in just two subway stops, pierces all women’s comforting illusions about when and how we will be safe. It spread like wildfire among women’s WhatsApp groups, raising questions about how this could happen: How could they not intervene in a rape happening in front of them?
But the judge said the fact that the French father returned to Britain to give evidence that helped secure the conviction showed it was not because he didn’t care. This leaves the troubling and more morally complex possibility of a parent, alone with her young child, faced with someone so dangerous that they have committed an unthinkable crime, having to decide whether intervening to help someone else’s daughter would put their own child at risk.
All of this brings back memories of the infamous attack on a woman on a train in Philadelphia in 2021; Initial reports suggest that none of the other passengers came to his aid, and some even callously filmed this with their phones. But later, more subtle versions of the slowly unfolding horror emerged, beginning with the attacker attempting to strike up an unsolicited conversation, then groping his victim, eventually escalating to rape. Because some of the audience members were not on the train for the entire duration, they did not understand exactly what they saw, and those filming may have been trying to gather evidence for the police. first story felt True, it was in line with fears about cities becoming lawless or people becoming more reckless, but in some ways it clearly wasn’t; Still, this must be small consolation for the poor woman who was raped in front of everyone.
In fact, research shows that far from looking on in shock, people who witness violent crimes often step in to help, and they aren’t always the people you might imagine. This week, it was reported that 74-year-old Conservative MP (and former SAS backbencher) David Davis stepped in to stop two men from brutally attacking a homeless man on the street in Westminster.
When soldier Lee Rigby was brutally murdered on a London street in 2013, it was a 48-year-old scout leader named Ingrid Loyau-Kennett who got off a passing bus to help and aided Rigby’s harried, blood-soaked killers. speaking. (When asked later what gave him the courage to intervene, he explained that he used to be a teacher: Maybe someone was used to imposing authority and quickly assessing overheated situations.)
And years ago, when a man pulled me off a subway train and dropped me to the ground in an empty corridor, a nervous-looking middle-aged woman came to the rescue. Only then did I realize how many men were standing a few feet away from the platform, close enough to hear my screams but also staring fixedly at their shoes.
Now that I’m a middle-aged woman, it surprises me less. A man confronted by a violent man must be prepared to fight, with potentially fatal consequences, but an older woman’s intervention can sometimes be read as less of a threat. Or maybe we’re quicker to spot the red flags: the guy wolfing down a teenage girl on the bus, getting too close, engaging her in a conversation she clearly doesn’t want. Of course, that’s how the Philadelphia attack began.
Fortunately, for less violent crimes that most of us will witness in our lifetimes, such as sexual harassment in public places, women’s groups preach the five D’s. If direct action feels unsafe, either Delegate (ask someone else for help or call 999 or text British Transport Police by train on 61016) or Document evidence, or Distract by striking up a conversation with a disturbed woman. this gives him a chance to escape. If all else fails, there is Delayed action or sympathy shown afterwards. But maybe the missing D is just the ability to suspend disbelief.
It’s a small thing, but somewhere in the middle of a long solo train ride last year, I looked up from my own phone long enough to realize what the guy next to me was actually doing with his. He was secretly but repeatedly taking photographs of a little girl sitting nearby: examining them, cropping them, recording them. It took her a minute to figure out how to warn her parents without scaring her or possibly getting punched. But what took the longest was accepting that it was happening. Yes, you saw what you thought you saw. No, there is no obvious, innocent explanation. Then you must act now.
When did he realize exactly what he saw, the Frenchman on the Piccadilly line? When did he realize he had to make a choice? And for all we know, how often might he have tortured himself by wondering what would have happened if he’d made a different choice?
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Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
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Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. Rape Crisis UK offers support for: 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 In Scotland or Northern Ireland 0800 0246 991. In the US, Rainn offers support on: 800-656-4673. In Australia, you can get support at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html.
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