A 16-year-old suspect appeared in Nanaimo provincial court Monday for beating and sexually assaulting a 42-year-old woman.
The attack happened shortly before midnight Wednesday in a parking garage behind a building at Terminal Park mall.
“We got a call from a pedestrian who heard loud noises coming from the rear of a parking lot in the 1300 block of Estevan Road,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman.
Police arrived to find a woman who appeared to have been sexually assaulted.
“She provided a description of her attacker and a few minutes later the guys found him walking through the parking lot of Terminal Park mall,” O’Brien said. “They took him into custody without incident.”
The victim received numerous cuts, scrapes and bruises and had been choked during the attack.
O’Brien also confirmed the woman had been sexually assaulted.
She was treated at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and later released and is being supported by victim services.
The suspect was charged over the weekend with sexual assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement and choking in the commission of an offence, but his name will not be released because he is still considered a minor.
He was held in custody after charges were sworn against him. Monday’s court appearance was to determine if he would remain in custody.
“They will make a determination on his continued detainment or not,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said both the victim and assailant live within the Terminal Park area, but likely did not know each other.
“It’s a stranger attack,” O’Brien said. “That’s what we’re going on. There’s no prior relationship established at all between the two.”
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to please call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.nanaimocrime
stoppers.com.