Winnipeg police appealed for the second day in a row today for any information on a man who sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl early Saturday.
The girl was walking alone near Arlington Street and Alexander Avenue at about 1 a.m. when a man driving a car stopped and offered her a ride. The child accepted, and once inside the car was threatened with violence if she did not cooperate, police said.
Views of Arlington and Alexander, where a girl, 11, accepted a ride from a predator, then was sexually assaulted.
The man then drove her to a nearby secluded area and raped her. He then drove the girl back near where he had picked her up and let her go. She went to a nearby business and told someone what had happened. Police were called immediately.
Sgt. Kelly Dennison said focus of police is to catch the culprit.
"I know a lot of people will probably be asking: 'What is an 11-year-old doing out at that time of the day?'" Dennison said. "I think the bigger question is: Where can we find the sexual predator who did this?
"Once we catch this guy, then we'll deal with those other issues."
Police are hunting for an Asian man in his early 20s.
He had black spiked hair with brown highlights. He was wearing sweats and a black jacket with white stripes on the sleeves.
He was driving a newer-model four-door car.
Police hope the girl remembers enough about the man to supply them with a good sketch. If so, could be released to the media in a few days.
The girl was picked up in one of the city's grittiest neighbourhoods -- at Arlington Street and Alexander Avenue, near the federal virology lab.
Police said the girl was walking north on Arlington when a man driving a newer-model four-door car stopped. She accepted a ride from him. He drove a short distance to a secluded area in the 900 block of Elgin Avenue, near the lab.
That's when the sexual assault took place, police said.
The suspect later dropped off the girl in the area where he picked her up. The girl ran to her friend's house and police were called.
The neighbourhood is a mix of industrial businesses such as car repair shops and small houses, some with boarded-up windows.
On Sunday, residents were taken aback by the brazen nature of the attack.
"This is not a safe area of town," said Alon Atkin, who owns and manages the Stock Exchange Hotel at the corner of Arlington Street and Logan Avenue, a block away from where the girl was picked up.
Atkin said he gave police videotapes of the hotel's security cameras, though the cameras point at the hotel's parking lot rather than at Arlington Street, a few metres away.
Atkin said the incident is "very disturbing."
Mark Wilson, 14, said the girl shouldn't have been walking alone at such a late hour.
On Sunday afternoon he was with his 15-year-old friend David Lambert on Arlington.
Asked if it's unusual that a child would be walking alone in the area overnight, Wilson shrugged and replied: "I don't think so. I got chased a couple of times by guys."
Norman Boudreau, vice-president of Beyond Borders, a national child-protection organization based in Winnipeg, suggested the girl's parents or guardians should face criminal charges.
"Child and family services should be involved," Boudreau said. "That child is certainly in need of protection. One in the morning. We know that's when the predators are out. That child would certainly be a prime target."
Beyond Borders advocates know of "a fair number of children" who are on the streets of Winnipeg at night, Boudreau said.
Federal and provincial legislation exists, he added, that could lead to charges against any adult supervising the girl, although Boudreau said it's unlikely the Crown would pursue charges.
Police said the suspect has black, spiked hair with brown highlights. He was described as tall with a medium build, wearing a black jacket with white stripes on the sleeves and grey sweatpants.
Police are asking anyone with information to call the sex crimes unit at 986-6245.
The incident was one of two "serious sexual assaults" that took place in the city's core area on the same night -- something Dennison said hadn't occurred in the last 2 1/2 years.
In the other attack, a suspect allegedly approached a 37-year-old woman who was waiting for a taxi in the area of Carlton Street and Cumberland Avenue, shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday.
He produced a knife, forced the woman into an apartment complex and then into a laundry room where he physically and sexually assaulted her.
She was later able to flee.
The woman contacted police and was taken to hospital with numerous injuries to her face and upper body. She was treated and later released.
Police arrested a suspect in the apartment complex.
Peter Lloyd Laporte, 33, was charged with sexual assault with a weapon and sexual assault causing bodily harm.
joe.paraskevas@freepress.mb.ca
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