MBTA station kidnapping, rape has Asian community on edge

Crime

“We have an argument for a hate crime charge, and that may still occur depending on how the facts play out.”

Details concerning a rape and kidnapping outside a Quincy MBTA station have both local leaders and the region’s Asian community unsettled. 

A 64-year-old Asian woman was on her way to work early Saturday morning when she was kidnapped by a man outside Wollaston station, police said. The man strangled and repeatedly sexually assaulted her before leaving her in the parking lot of a Brockton mall.

According to an MBTA Transit Police report obtained by The Boston Globe, the same assailant unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap another Asian woman approximately 10 minutes earlier at the same MBTA station.

“I thought I was going to die,” the victim told authorities through a translator, speaking the Chinese dialect of Toisanese.

Christian M. Lynch, 26, of Quincy, was arraigned on multiple charges, including rape, kidnapping, strangulation, and assault and battery on a person age 60 or older.  He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail. 

According to court records obtained by the Globe, Lynch is also facing lewdness charges. He is accused of exposing himself to a woman on a walking trail in Quincy.

Lynch has not been charged with a hate crime, but Quincy state Representative Tackey Chan told the Globe that it remains a possibility.

“I think the DA is trying to figure out what this guy was looking to do,” Chan said in an interview Monday night. “If he looks specifically for Asian women, then we have an argument for a hate crime charge, and that may still occur depending on how the facts play out.”

According to the Globe, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey spoke about the incident with Chan and Philip Chong, chief executive of Quincy Asian Resources Inc., on Monday.

Chong told WCVB that the crime is “very unsettling for the entire community,” adding that Quincy Asian Resources Inc. is planning to hold a community safety meeting Nov. 28. The organization is also putting together a fund for the victim and her family.

Grace Su, director of family services for the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, told the station that the crime is especially poignant because it’s close to home.

“It’s shocking. It’s scary because it’s happening right in our neighborhood. I feel scared for the other women who have to walk home late at night from work or from school.”