A young woman has shared her story of being harassed and spat at while riding a Melbourne tram, and has urged passengers not to intervene.
Erin Batchelor, a South African living in Victoria, posted a video on her TikTok account explaining how she “felt helpless” while being harassed by a stranger recently.
Ms Batchelor, who appeared emotional, said she was “still in shock” over the incident in the video, which has attracted nearly 158,000 views.
She said a man got on the tram she was on, adding that she felt “very wary of him”.
“So I sat where I was and kept my eyes on him,” she said.
“But you could simply tell that he was under the influence of something, and was just talking to himself.
“Then he pulled out a whole bottle of red wine and started drinking from it and then he spat it on the floor and made all these noises.”
Ms Batchelor said things escalated when the man approached her and tried to grab her mobile phone.
“I just looked at him, and didn’t say anything because I was so scared,” she said.
Ms Batchelor said the man then sat in front of her, making her “very uncomfortable” and prompting her to try to leave the situation.
She said the man “put his leg up to block me,” forcing her to jump over his leg.
“I walked all the way to the back of the tram,” she said. “And two other ladies who were around me followed me to the back of the tram.
“But then he started following us and that’s when I started recording, because you never know what could happen.”
Ms Batchelor said what made her feel even worse was the fact that other people on the tram, including men, failed to intervene and protect her.
“There were all these men sitting there doing nothing,” she said.
“And that’s very frustrating, too. Seeing a young woman like me, and another young woman, feeling so uncomfortable and having nowhere to go.”
The man approached the two women and began “talking very aggressively” as Ms Batchelor trembled and waited for the tram doors to open at the next stop.
She was forced to push the man off the tram, but Ms Batchelor said that at that point he spat on her.
“It was so disgusting, he spat on me,” she said.
“I felt so disgusted and luckily the tram doors were closed.”
She said people gave her tissues to clean herself and stayed to offer support.
“It was a horrific experience because you were completely helpless and had no idea what this person might do.”
“I don’t understand why people don’t try to help others if they can.
“It’s so frustrating when things like this happen, especially when women don’t feel safe, and it literally happens on a random Wednesday at 2pm, in broad daylight with lots of people around.”
Ms Batchelor said she wanted to share her story so that others could stay vigilant “because you never know what situation you might find yourself in.”
The video received hundreds of supportive comments, and one commenter said he knew other women who had experienced similar incidents.
“I would hate for this to become somewhat normal on public transportation,” they wrote.
