Boston Public Schools and a transportation contractor are accused of negligence after a 9-year-old girl was allegedly raped repeatedly on a bus by another student.

“There is a 9-year-old child in Boston who was raped repeatedly on her way home from school over an entire school year,” said the family’s attorneys, Nina Bonelli and Alexander Zodikoff, in a statement.

“Our lawsuit alleges that it was the failure of Boston Public Schools and Transdev to follow their own policies that directly led to this young child’s assault. 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,” they continued in their statement.

The lawsuit filed Friday in Suffolk Superior Court alleges that the 9-year-old victim, a fourth-grade student at the Match Community Day Charter School in Hyde Park, was repeatedly raped and battered by another student while being in close proximity to the onboard bus monitor as well as the bus driver. The alleged perpetrator “repeatedly threatened Child Doe with physical violence if she ever reported the abuse.”

By May 2, 2023, the administration of the school became aware of the sexual assaults after the girl told two of her friends, who in turn told school staff, according to the complaint. The incidents allegedly took place during a seven-month period between October 2022 and May 2023.

The lawsuit levels charges of negligence against Transdev, The Match Foundation, Inc., which manages the school, Boston Public Schools, the City of Boston, the bus driver, and the bus monitor.

It also included a charge of “Loss of Consortium” against all the previously mentioned defendants, arguing that the alleged abuse cost the mother “the unimpaired care, comfort, solace, moral support, assistance, society, and companionship of her child,” the victim; as well as a charge of “spoliation of evidence” for the loss or nonexistence of video footage of the incidents.

Transdev, the complaint states, was unable to come up with video footage for any of the times relevant to the alleged sexual assaults despite a policy that its buses employ video equipment for security. In addition to that policy, the lawsuit states the bus is equipped with mirrors for the responsible adults on board to monitor children’s safety, which they purportedly failed to monitor, and also argues they failed to “listen closely” to what went on onboard.

The Herald has reached out to Boston Public Schools, Transdev and Match Public Charter School for comment.