DePaul freshman brutally attacked on CTA train

A DePaul freshman heading home from school was brutally attacked for her iPhone.

The worst part? The 19-year-old woman says she was beaten as others just stood by and watched.

It was a brutal attack in broad daylight, and while the victim and her family are still coping with the physical and psychological toll, it's taken they are still coming to grips with the fact that two able bodied men were standing within ten feet of Jessica Hughes and did absolutely nothing to help her.

It was just past 10 a.m. Thursday when the DePaul University freshman was heading home from class on the Blue Line. The train had almost emptied out at the UIC Halsted stop when a man more than twice her size took a seat directly in front of her.

"All of a sudden he just turned around and pretends to crack his back and looks me right in the eye...and that's when I knew something was off...cause he looked at me for a good few seconds,” Hughes said.

For Hughes, the next few moments would be terrifying. The man demanded her iPhone and when she wouldn't hand it over, he and a woman began attacking her. They punched her repeatedly in the face, breaking her nose and even biting her hand. All the while, two men watched the attack from just a few feet away and did nothing to stop it.

"I called for help multiple times and they didn't come to my aid. They were just watching,” Hughes said.

For Hughes' father, the anguish over his daughter's beating is matched only by his outrage towards the two bystanders who refused to come to Hughes' aid.

"I feel shame for them...I feel that being men...being a father...I don't know if they're fathers…but your job is to protect your children…what if it was their child being beaten by a humongous man?” said father Richard Amador.

Before her attack, Hughes says she had ridden the blue line to and from school on multiple occasions, never once fearing for her safety. But long time rider Deidric Baynes wasn't surprised at all to hear of her violent encounter.

"It's kind of difficult to ride this train...you've got to keep your head on a swivel,” Baynes said.

FOX 32 is told the CTA surveillance video offers no clue as to who Hughes' attackers are.