A suspect arrested in connection with the attempted rape of a woman on a train near Paris after a video of the incident went viral on social media has admitted to an altercation with the victim but denied any sexual assault, prosecutors said on Sunday.
The suspect, aged 26 and of Egyptian nationality, was taken into custody on Friday as part of the investigation, the Créteil prosecutor’s office said.
At the end of his police custody, the man will be brought on Monday before the Créteil prosecutor and could be handed preliminary charges of attempted rape. The public prosecutor also requested pre-trial detention.
The incident has reignited the debate over sexual violence on public transport in France, which has been rising in recent years.
A 26-year-old Brazilian woman was allegedly attacked by a man earlier this month on a Paris suburban train. The incident occurred in the morning in a nearly empty carriage.
The prosecutor’s office said the woman filed a complaint, stating that she had been the victim of a sexual assault. She was examined by a forensic doctor who put her on five days of sick leave.
CBS News partner BBC News identified the woman as Jhordana Dias, who told the newspaper Le Parisien that the man boarded the train, pushed her and attempted to pull down her underwear. Another passenger filmed the incident, which shows a man fleeing the train as it pulls into a station. The man was not carrying identification documents when he was arrested but told police he was a 26-year-old Egyptian national, BBC News reported.
French media reported that the woman said she was sexually assaulted, slapped and bitten. Another passenger rushed to intervene and began filming the scene on her mobile phone as the man fled. The video was later shared on social media.
According to a recent government report, the number of victims of sexual violence on public transport has increased by 86% since 2016.