New.com.au reports on this distressing occurrence in China:
A young woman was raped by a man in a public toilet in north China as a crowd of some 40 bystanders stood by and watched, failing to help or call the police, state media reported Wednesday.The incident took place on April 18 in Hengshui city in Hebei province when the 32-year-old garbage collector followed the 19-year-old woman into a public toilet and attacked her, the Beijing Youth Daily said.Two police officers on patrol stopped to investigate when they saw a large crowd outside the toilet.They found out a crime was taking place after one of the bystanders told them someone was being raped inside, 20 minutes after the assault started.The officers arrested the man at the scene.
Too often, we see people’s inaction faciliating the most heinous of crimes (the Holocaust being a stark example of this).
In some cases, people are too scared to act, and while this does not exonerate them from doing the right thing, it may be considered to be a mitigating factor. However, in the case at hand, we are not talking of people being too scared to act. A crowd of people could easily overcome one man. I suspect that the people were somehow receiving gratification from the girl’s ordeal.
I only hope these people are charged as being accomplices to the crime. Since there is no indication that the officers arrested them too, I fear this will not happen.
