Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Files: 21-34428

Victoria, BC – Patrol officers, with help from residents of an Esquimalt neighbourhood, arrested a man last night after he reportedly tried to enter a woman’s home. The suspect has previous convictions for kidnapping and sexual assault.

Shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Monday, August 23rd, Patrol officers responded to a residential area in the vicinity of Fleming Beach in Esquimalt for a report that neighbours were holding a man found trying to break into a woman’s residence. Officers attended and took custody of the suspect without incident.

Witnesses reported that the suspect tried to enter a woman’s residence through a window. The woman spotted the suspect and screamed for help. The woman’s screams alerted her neighbours and several of them left their residences and confronted the suspect. The suspect fled the area on foot and some of the woman’s neighbours gave chase, eventually taking hold of him and waiting for police to arrive. No one was physically injured in the incident.

The suspect, a 63-year-old Victoria man, faces recommended charges of trespassing at night, break and enter, and assault. He is the subject of previous criminal convictions for kidnapping as well as sexual assault. He was held in custody to await court.

This file remains under investigation.

If you have information about this incident and have not spoken with investigators, please call our non-emergency line at (250) 995-7654. To report what you know anonymously, please call Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

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