By Josh Hall and Sheldon Spackman

Victim speaks out after downtown sexual assault

Nov 28, 2018 | 10:01 PM

A Red Deer woman is taking it upon herself to warn others about what she feels may be a possible sexual predator in the community.

JD, as she prefers to be known, works in downtown Red Deer. On November 21 while standing outside her vehicle at a downtown parking lot taking a photo, a passerby stuck his hand up her skirt and grabbed her crotch before running away.

JD, who is 33 and has lived in the city for about a year now, says she is very upset about the incident that happened in broad daylight with many people around near the downtown spray park.

“I try to take care of myself and protect myself and make good decisions,” explains JD. “I feel a little bit of fear, like it’s going to happen again to me or to someone else. But I also feel that because of the crime laws in Canada, I do feel that this is a solution that if we punish perpetrators, this is an issue that can be solved.” 

Despite two other reported incidents of a similar nature and by a suspect with a similar description that same day in downtown Red Deer, JD remains confident the justice system can bring her justice.

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“I don’t have any other hope,” she states. “The other option is what, you sit at home and don’t go to work and you don’t live your life? That’s pretty much the only other option, so I have to have that confidence.”

JD says RCMP told her the suspect is known to police. She feels repeat offenders need to be registered and see very harsh punishments.

“There was a witness, and the witness and I have been in touch three times, and he has refused to come forward and confirm the assault because there is a warrant for his arrest,” she explains. “There were construction workers, there were people having a smoke, there were people walking around on their cellphones, there has to be safety for people wanting to speak anonymously.”

Officials with Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre (CASASC) say it’s time to change the conversation around sexual violence.

The organization will be teaming up with the Students’ Association of Red Deer College and two third-year BScN students of RDC on Thursday for Changing the Conversation – a consent and sexual violence prevention information booth. The purpose is to create awareness around sexual violence, victim blaming and consent, with the goal to shift the focus from placing blame on the victim to the perpetrators of such crimes.

Patricia Arango, Executive Director at CASASC lauds Weston for her bravery in coming forward and reporting the incident to both them and the police.

“We encourage victims to please come forward and make a report,” Arango says. “If we know, maybe we can help and do something. But for the incident last week, we are only aware of one case.”

Arango admits an incident occurring in the middle of the day with lots of people around is very unusual.

“Normally, incidents happen in a different environment like in a bar, inside a house with someone they may know,” she explains. “But in this kind of attack, being sexually assaulted at noon is completely unusual. In my four years here, this is the first one that was reported immediately.”

Arango says the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre has 24-hour text, phone call and web chat for crisis support, along with one-to-one support, family intervention services and therapy for both children and pets.

“We are here almost 24 hours for the victims,” states Arango. “They need to know that even though they don’t report to the police, we are here for them. If they decide to report, we will help them and go with them and guide and encourage them to do it because the police need to know about this kind of incident.”

Arango says CASASC is also talking to perpetrators, in addition to victims.

“We are basically telling them to find help, it’s a different approach,” she explains. “This incident is very sad, everyone should be taking care of our community. We need to work together to prevent sexual assault, which is a preventable crime. It’s not fair to be afraid to go out.”

On November 28, Red Deer RCMP arrested and charged a man in the city’s downtown with 10 counts, including two counts of sexual assault. However, Mounties cannot confirm the man arrested can be linked to JD’s incident, or any other recent incident of a similar nature. 

“We believe there’s one individual who at least once, possibly two or three times, may have been involved in this sort of behaviour,” Sgt. Gary Kroeker told rdnewsNOW on Tuesday.

“We just want to reiterate that the type of crime that this particular person is doing is certainly very serious and very concerning to us as the police,” states Kroeker.

“However, thankfully it has not reached any level where anyone is being captured or dragged off to be further assaulted. It seems to be passing in nature, so we don’t believe there’s an increased risk to the public as far as safety goes but at the same time we encourage people to be vigilant whenever they’re anywhere in public to make sure they’re aware of what’s going on around them.”