Maurice Osborne is the man credited with stopping the sexual assault of an unidentified woman, which took place at around 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday, August 12th. The man, identified as 40-year-old Alvaro Dennica, had allegedly been fondling himself before attacking the woman on the platform. Dennica had jumped on the victim in an effort to rape her, and it was when she said that Dennica was trying to rape her that Osborne intervened and grabbed the man who responded by saying he “…didn’t do anything.” He proceeded to take the man to a police station where Dennica is currently being charged.
To be clear, the victim was sexually assaulted in broad daylight among people who didn’t have even attempt stepping in to help her. Osborne took notice of the woman when he had heard her screaming, and then rushed over to her aid. Osborne noted that he,
“wished someone else did [help her]… wished the conductor stayed. The conductor didn’t even stay. The train left.”
The story, though it lightly touches on this aspect, is encompassed by a society which doesn’t know or simply doesn’t care to respond to sexual assault victims. It brushes over the apathetic facet of a society which fosters passiveness even to the extent to which the screams of a woman do not yield a response. Had it not been for Maurice Osborne, there is no real telling what would have happened. Alvaro Dennica had so openly committed the crime, it was not the audacity of him doing it so publicly that should shock us, but the audacity of onlookers to marginalize the victim’s trauma. Dennica must have figured that no one would care enough to step in and help the woman, or that no one would believe her. Our society breeds insensitive remarks toward sexual assault victims and a good example of this would be the allegations surrounding Bill Cosby. Even though women have been accusing Cosby for years, no one heeded the allegations but had instead commented that the women were just lying and out for their 15 minutes of fame. If the screams of a woman are not enough to elicit a physical or even verbal response, to what extent would this have had to go to actually prompt swift action?
In no way am I trying to undermine Maurice’s heroic actions (he was left with six stitches above his left eye and a swollen right hand). However, I am drawing attention to the prevalent issue at hand in regard to women who have been sexually assaulted and how the reality of a sensible society is non-existent. We often hear of victims in horrific car crashes where brave Samaritans step in to rescue them, and they come by the masses, why should this be any different?
Featured image provided by Subway Nut
