Two nights ago, we were awaken to an argument outside our apartment building. It was 2 in the morning and a lady was shouting at someone for what seemed like 5-10 minutes. Just when I got up to yell out the window to tell this lady to shut up, I heard garbled shouts and tussling. I got my glasses and looked out and window to see a man standing over a woman who had curled up on the ground, hitting her and kicking her. She pleaded with him and he cursed at her and continued kicking.
I opened the window and yell for him to stop. He stopped momentarily to look, but went back to kicking her. The lady was shouting to call the cops. I yelled at the man again and told him to stop and that I was calling the cops. During the call, he continued beating the lady who cried for help. After my call, I rushed downstairs and told our apartment security guard (who was asleep) that someone was being beaten outside. She called her colleagues.
At this time this man tried picking up the lady to "take her home". I told him to leave her and step away. He ignored me until I told him a few more times to back off. He replied by telling me she was drunk and she needed help to get back home. By this time some more security guards had arrived and kept an eye on the guy. I told one of them to make sure he didn't get away as the police were on their way. The man started denying hitting the woman, claiming she had fallen. All the while the woman laid curled up on the ground sobbing and crying in pain. Her haunting cries still unsettle me.
It took the police another 20 minutes to get to our apartment complex which is ridiculous since there's a police station at Telford (don't know if it's operating at night though) and they had to call me back to get directions for how to get to our apartment. I went back upstairs since I was still in my PJ's and didn't want to get too involved in this incident. But when I went back up, I remember hearing the man explain again that the woman had fallen and he hadn't touched her. I got so angry and shouted out from the window that I had seen him hitting her with my own eyes. He retorted, "If you're so sure, come down and be a witness."
The whole thing is so unsettling. It's so ironic hat none of our security guards who were only 20 meters away heard anything, and that none of our neighbors turned a light on to look out the window to help. Perhaps it's the power of the bystander effect or perhaps they were genuinely sleeping. It's just bizarre that no one else came to help. It made for a very restless sleep that night. but praise God, the following teaching day went well for the both of us in spite of our tiredness.
