PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The man accused of raping a woman while she was passed out on a Market-Frankford El train has pleaded guilty.
Fiston Ngoy, 36, pleaded guilty to rape of an unconscious victim and, as part of the plea agreement, will spend seven to 14 years in state prison.
The incident initially got worldwide attention on Oct. 13, 2021, when Upper Darby and SEPTA police said passengers on the train were recording the assault rather than assisting the woman. The Delaware County District Attorney’s Office eventually held a press conference to dispel those rumors.
Surveillance video from the train, outlined at the time of Ngoy's arrest, shows him repeatedly touching and groping the woman over the course of a 40-minute ride. According to previous testimony from Ngoy and the woman, there was never a struggle or any indication to anyone on the train that it was a rape.
The woman testified at Ngoy’s preliminary hearing, saying she’d had a couple drinks after work and remembers someone sitting next to her on the train and putting his arm around her. She pushed him away a couple times. She said she remembers him pushing her down on the seat — then the next thing she remembers is being taken off the train on a stretcher at the 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby.
Before his guilty plea, Ngoy had claimed it was consensual, but prosecutors argued video from the train showed the woman was clearly unconscious, and at no point during the incident was she able to give consent.
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