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Richmond, Calif., the San Francisco suburb with a population of just more than 100,000 people, is a high-crime area. In a 50-day period from Sept. 17 to Nov. 5, there have been eight armed robberies and four assaults with a deadly weapon within less than a mile of Richmond High School, according to Richmond Police crime mapping technology.
The night of Oct. 24 marked homecoming at the high school. A 16-year-old girl went to the dance that night, and around 9:30 p.m. she left alone. She walked from the school, intending to call for a ride home. She made it no more than 400 feet when a classmate called to her from behind a fence separating a school courtyard from the street. He climbed the fence and accompanied her to a dark area with a bench.
There, a group of people were drinking. She chugged a bottle of brandy, quickly became heavily intoxicated and collapsed on the bench. Semiconscious, she was beaten, robbed and raped repeatedly by as many as seven men for more than two hours.
Police say up to two dozen bystanders witnessed the crime at close proximity. Some allegedly pointed at the victim. It’s been reported some laughed while others used cell phones to take pictures and rooted for the perpetrators. As word of the attack spread, more came to the scene and watched. Some of them may even have participated in the attack.
Thirty or more people may have been involved in this crime. It must have been mob mentality or the fear of being a snitch that silenced the voyeurs who watched. As for the perpetrators, a perverse notion of power must have rushed over them. They knew the attack would be easy, especially with such a crowd behind them. This is the most heinous type of crime.
It wasn’t until a nearby resident, 18-year-old Margarita Vargas, heard about the girl from her boyfriend, who did not witness the crime, that police were called. After the call, Vargas courageously went out to the scene to check on the victim.
“I could tell that she had been beat up because her face was swollen,” she said to a CBS affiliate in San Francisco. “She was naked, didn’t have shoes. They just covered her up and stuff.”
Police came to the scene to find the girl as Vargas had. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition. One suspect fled the scene and was arrested soon thereafter. Five other suspects have been arrested, as of Nov. 7. Four of them face life in prison.
In California it is illegal to witness a crime committed against a child and not report it. Sadly, the law only applies to children 14 years old and younger. The victim misses the cutoff by less than two years.
The perpetrators of the crime should receive life sentences for this cowardly and brutal assault on a helpless young girl. A judge giving them a lighter sentence irresponsibly ignores the victim and the safety of the public. But because of a legal technicality, the not-so-innocent bystanders can’t be charged. That year and a few months are the difference between jail time and total freedom for those who stood by and watched, doing nothing to stop this heinous crime.
Regardless of whether they are charged, I hope those voyeurs live out their lives with a wracking guilt worse than any jail sentence. At best, they are guilty of dawdling during the attack. At worst, they ridiculed and recorded a broken, battered victim of a horrific crime as it happened.
The victim was released from the hospital on Oct. 30 after a remarkable physical recovery. Emotionally, she faces a much longer road. I urge University of Maine students to show support for the victim of this crime by sending cards to Jane Doe, care of Richmond High School, 1250 23rd St., Richmond, CA 94804-1011.
Michael Shepherd is a columnist for The Maine Campus.
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