Female Carpool Passenger Traveling From BJ Raped by Her Driver

原创 Charles L. theBeijinger

Less than a month after a brutal murder outraged the Chinese public and made women's safety a national issue, another carpooling driver has been implicated for raping one of his passengers.

A 35-year-old man named Li has been arrested by police a day after he raped a woman whom he was driving in a carpool from Beijing, reported Zhangjiakou News.

The victim, a 22-year-old woman named "Xiao Yue" (a pseudonym), said she had paid RMB 60 to share a carpool from Beijing to Zhangjiakou with four other passengers.

Upon dropping off the other passengers, driver Li suggested to Xiao Yue that he could take her the rest of the 40 kilometers back to her village of Chicheng. Because she was familiar with Li, being that Li drove her twice before and was added to her WeChat contact list, Xiao Yue decided to trust Li and take him up on his offer.

However, Li stopped the car at a remote location 10 kilometers from their destination and threatened Xiao Yue, telling her that he didn't care if she called the police because he had recently been released from jail. Scared into submission, Xiao Yue requested to leave the car to use the bathroom, at which point she used the opportunity to call her family to come to rescue her.

Because she was in a deserted area and didn't think she could successfully escape, Xiao Yue said she decided to return to Li's car. Shortly after she got back into the car, Li raped Xiao Yue.

When Xiao Yue's family arrived at the scene, they caught Li raping Xiao Yue in the car's backseat. Angry, the family destroyed the car's window as Li fled the scene without his pants. Li was arrested by police the next day.

The rape has sparked huge controversy online, attracting over 30,000 comments at one Chinese news portal alone.

Some of the anger was directed at the rapist with some commenters suggesting that he be "castrated." Other netizens expressed their frustration at the victim with one such person writing, "She had a chance to escape when she went to the bathroom; that's so aggravating (to me)."

She had a chance to escape when she went to the bathroom; that's so aggravating (to me).

Last month, a 22-year-old stewardess was raped and murdered by her carpooling driver, sparking a public outrage amid intense media scrutiny. Chinese car-sharing giant Didi Chuxing accepted responsibility for its role in the incident, admitting that the murder suspect was able to bypass the company's verification process that incorporated facial recognition software.

But even after suspending its carpooling Hitch app for a week to implement new rules such as a night-time ban on the service, public safety has become a top concern. Over the last month, some Chinese women have even altered their online profiles in order to hide their gender from their drivers.

Numerous details about the Chicheng rape have been omitted by the Chinese news report including the exact date of the incident and whether or not a ride-sharing app was used.

Images: Weibo.com