Teen charged with sexual assault of stranger on Vancouver Island

Mounties on Vancouver Island have arrested a teenage suspect nearly two years after a sexual assault on an elderly woman that they have described as a stranger attack.

The incident occurred in the Cobble Hill woman’s home on July 23, 2024. Around 9 p.m. that evening, Shawnigan Lake RCMP were called to the residence on Carlton Drive for a report that the victim had been sexually assaulted by “an unknown man” who had entered her home.

Investigators, including the RCMP Police Dog Service, searched the area for the suspect, but were unable to find him, the Shawnigan Lake detachment said in a news release announcing the arrest Thursday.

A suspect was eventually identified “through forensic evidence analysis,” police said in their statement.

The B.C. Prosecution Service approved charges against the 17-year-old suspect on Monday.

He cannot be named because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The boy has been charged with breaking and entering to commit an indictable offence, sexual assault and disguising himself with the intent to commit an indictable offence.

Because his whereabouts were unknown when charges were approved, an arrest warrant was issued. He was taken into custody Wednesday and remains there awaiting a bail hearing, police said.