9-year-old girl allegedly raped multiple times on Boston school bus, lawsuit alleges

The family of a 9-year-old girl who was allegedly raped multiple times by a boy on a Boston school bus has filed a lawsuit against Boston Public Schools for failing to protect the girl on her way home from school.

The girl, who is a student at the Match Charter Public School in Hyde Park, was sexually assaulted and raped multiple times by an 11-year-old student over the course of seven months during the 2022-2023 school year, according to WFXT.

The lawsuit states: "The sexual assaults occurred on diverse dates over seven months and were committed by another 11-year-old student."

“The sexual assaults took place just a few feet from the bus monitor and the bus driver on the ride home after school from the Match Charter Public School.”

The lawsuit went on to suggest that once the school became aware of the alleged assaults, an investigation uncovered that though the bus had video equipment onboard, no video footage could be found for the dates that the alleged assaults occurred.

The report mentioned that the attorneys at Morgan & Morgan said that the young girl had suffered great physical and mental harm from the incidents. She also had to leave school before she was able to complete fourth grade due to fear of physical or social consequences of the situation.

“Our lawsuit alleges that it was the failure of Boston Public Schools and Transdev to follow their policies that directly led to this young child’s assault,” attorneys Nina Bonelli and Alexander Zodikoff stated.

“Our client will experience a childhood haunted by trauma and flashbacks, and we will do everything in our power to hold the defendants accountable and prevent anything like this from happening to another child in our city.”

The lawsuit went on to say that the bus driver and monitor "either knew, or reasonably should have known, of the repeated and ongoing sexual abuse," adding that they had a "duty to identify, intervene, and take steps to end and report the abuse as well as to take reasonable steps to prevent it from reoccurring."

Boston Public Schools attempted to justify the missing footage, saying that while the footage is stored, it is not stored permanently.

“Boston Public Schools’ top priority is the safety of our young people. Our jurisdiction to take action is limited when it comes to students who do not attend a Boston Public School but still utilize BPS buses, and we were devastated to learn of this disturbing alleged incident five months after it occurred,” spokesman Max Baker said.

“Once we were informed, BPS took all the available and appropriate steps possible. The BPS Department of Transportation provided all information available to Match Charter School, which is legally responsible for investigating all incidents of impropriety regarding their students.”

Nnenna Ude, the Executive Director of the Match Charter Public School, said that while the school is committed to the safety of its students, they are not responsible for the buses that get the children to and from school.

“While we cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we took all appropriate steps to immediately notify the proper authorities, work closely with the families involved, and secure the safety of the students,” Ude said.

“Match Charter Public School does not operate the buses that transport our students to and from school. But, we are committed to supporting our students and families whether incidents happen on or off campus.”

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