DNA links sex assault of Surrey six-year-old to two other attacks
DNA links sex assault of Surrey six-year-old to two other attacks
BY KELLY SINOSKI, VANCOUVER SUNJULY 24, 2009 5:23 PM
METRO VANCOUVER — A man who sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl in Surrey earlier this month has been linked by DNA to two other attacks on teenage girls — one of them dating back to 1995.
Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow said the DNA collected from the assault on the Surrey girl was the same as that found in the two other assaults, which occurred in broad daylight near schools in east Vancouver in 1995 and in North Delta two years ago. The two cases had gone cold until now.
Since the man’s DNA profile does not match any of those held on the National DNA Data Bank in Ottawa, police are calling on the public — and even the suspect — to come forward.
“Someone out there has some information. We’re asking them to step forward and pick up the phone,” Morrow said. “Maybe even the offender, if realizes what he’s done is wrong and needs help, will call us.”
Police said besides the DNA connection, the girls all gave similar descriptions of the suspect and were attacked in the same way.
In each attack, the girls reported being approached by a man, who either brandished, or threatened to produce, a knife and then sexually assaulted them before running away.
In the Vancouver incident, a 13-year-old girl was walking toward Lord Nelson elementary school in east Vancouver when she was approached by a man as she crossed the playground.
The man spoke to her before her grabbed her arms, told her he had a knife and took her to a stairway at the south side of the school where she was assaulted. The traumatized girl ran home and told her parents.
Twelve years later the same man struck again, this time in North Delta when he confronted two 14-year-old girls behind what used to be Marlborough College on 84th Avenue. Both girls were assaulted.
In the latest incident in Surrey, a six-year-old girl was walking home with her 12-year-old brother and his 15-year-old friend in the evening of July 3 when they were confronted by a man in the area of 139th Street and 62nd Avenue.
The man ordered them into a nearby bush where he sexually assaulted the girl before running off.
Police are warning parents to take “whatever steps they deem appropriate to protect their children against these rare yet most serious of offences.”
But, Morrow said, people should not be afraid to leave their homes.
“We’re not trying to ramp up any level of fear whatsoever,” he said. “There is an onus on the police who have a duty to warn [the public] where there’s potential for people to be at risk . . . we still want our children to be kids and go to the beach and the playground and have a fun-filled childhood.”
Anyone with information is asked to call a police tips line at (604) 507-8066.
The Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/links+assault+Surrey+year+other+attacks/1825898/story.html
