A woman was left furious after hearing an elderly passenger say “no wonder they get raped” as she walked past her on a train.
Daniella Rakhdoune, 21, from Rustington, West Sussex, boarded a train to Brighton last weekend to meet a friend.
For her night out, the theatre student opted to wear a white miniskirt and a leopard-print off-shoulder crop top.
As she sat on the train, Daniella says a pensioner, who she believes was in his 70s or 80s, looked at her outfit and told her husband: “No wonder they rape them.”
The student explained: “I sat there for two minutes wondering if the shell had to be aimed at me. The train was silent and I thought it had to be aimed at me. I felt horrible and disgusted.
Pictured: Daniella Rakhdoune, 21, from Rustington, West Sussex, seen on board the train from Littlehampton to Brighton last weekend.
“You can’t fathom how someone’s mind works like that, especially a woman’s. For a second, I wondered if I should have dressed differently and covered myself up.”
After a few minutes, Daniella decided to confront the old woman and secretly filmed the exchange.
In the clip, Daniella opens the conversation with: “When you said, ‘no wonder they get raped,’ I hope you weren’t talking about me.”
The passenger then replied: ‘You girls are walking around with very little clothing and looking beautiful.
‘These men look at you and want to be with you.’
Daniella goes on to stress that she should be able to wear whatever she wants, but the older woman said, “You don’t take care of yourself or cover yourself up a bit. That’s what worries me.”
The student then said, “Well, I think what they’re worried about is that the man feels like he has to rape someone. It’s not something that has to do with me.”
“Not all men are like that,” the woman told her. “They don’t think like us. You just have to be very careful.”
Daniella (pictured) said of the woman’s comment: ‘For a second, I wondered if I should have dressed differently and covered up.’
Pictured: Daniella’s leopard print crop top and white skirt for her night out in Brighton last Saturday.
Daniella then ends the conversation by saying, “I guess that’s your generation, isn’t it?”
The student, who then moved to another carriage, continued: ‘As soon as he said it, I pulled out my phone and thought it couldn’t just be me who had heard it. He wasn’t embarrassed. He stood his ground.
She said that people like me have to cover up to protect ourselves and that it worries her when there are rapists out there.
“I’m worried about rapists, not how I dress. She said that not all men have that mentality. It seemed like she was saying that if something had happened to me, I would have deserved it.
“Her husband didn’t say a word. I sat there for a while, but then I changed carriages. After that, I felt a little self-conscious.
“I was worried about what I was wearing. I didn’t want people to think I was trying to draw attention to myself. I talked to my sister and she told me not to let that woman have the power to ruin my evening.”
After a few minutes passed, Daniella (pictured) decided to confront the elderly woman and secretly filmed the exchange.
Daniella (pictured) ended the conversation with the retiree by saying, “I guess that’s your generation, isn’t it?”
After posting the video on TikTok, Daniella received support from viewers.
One said: “You are a very brave young lady. You are eloquent and strong and you have handled the situation very well.”
Another added: “That was very brave of you, really. It’s really empowering to see you stand up to her like that in that moment. I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”
Daniella said: ‘People in the comments have been saying I should have said this or that and some people said I was too calm, but I was in shock and I didn’t think responding like that would have solved anything.
“I can’t put into words how unacceptable this is. The blame would never fall on the victim. I should never have to go out on the street with something I don’t want to wear. I never will.”
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