A Nigerian migrant narrowly avoided being lynched by an angry mob of Italians after attempting to drag a local woman into an alley in an attempt to rape her.

The incident took place on a street behind the Piazza Garibaldi in the vicinity of the Napoli Centrale railway station in Naples at around 8:30 pm at night. The Nigerian, later identified as 41-year-old Stephen Pope, attempted to drag a local woman into an alley while groping her with police being alerted by her screaming, Il Giornale reports.

After sighting the police officers, the 41-year-old let the victim loose and attempted to escape but was met with a mob of Italians who had also gathered at the scene following the screams of the woman.

As members of the mob attempted to attack the asylum seeker, police were able to arrest him after cornering him following a brief chase.

Moroccan Migrants Arrested After Italian Teen Gang Raped https://t.co/5vtuGAJWij — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 7, 2018

It was later revealed that Mr Pope had come to Italy in 2008 seeking asylum after arriving illegally in Lampedusa, and has made repeated requests for protection over the last ten years. He has since been charged with acts of sexual violence.

The incident is just the latest alleged sex attack committed by a migrant in the vicinity of a railway station and follows the rape of a young boy in Brindisi by a pair of Pakistani migrants who also dragged their victim into a nearby alley in February of last year.

Train station areas have also been hubs of drugs and robberies as well with a woman in her 60s being robbed and beaten outside Rome’s Termini train station last month. The woman was thrown to the floor by one of a pair of illegal Egyptian migrants resulting in severe injuries including the fracturing of one of her arms.

In 2017, a female Italian television reporter attempted to document the scenes at Termini and was attacked while broadcasting live from the area.