57-year-old man charged in relation to alleged sexual assault of 5-year-old boy

Calgary police have charged a 57-year-old man in relation to a sexual assault of a young boy that happened Saturday.

Police said a five-year-old boy was attacked in a back alley of the 3000-block of Elbow Drive Southwest.

Sunday, the Calgary Police Service Child Abuse Unit arrested the man in relation to the incident. Charges of sexual assault, sexual interference with a child and invitation to sexual touching have since been laid, CPS confirmed.

Investigators said it was a random attack and it has residents worried about their children’s safety.

READ MORE: Possible random sexual assault of child in broad daylight: Calgary police

In a news release late Saturday night, police said the boy was riding his bike in the alley at around 10 a.m. when he happened upon the man who was looking in garbage cans.

Bottle pickers often come to the Glencoe neighbourhood and some said they may have come across the middle-aged man that Calgary police believe sexually assaulted the boy.

“He looks like so many people around… I can’t say at all for sure. I may walk by him and not even notice,” Shawn, a bottle picker, said.

There are numerous children in the area, and parents are alarmed.

“I’ve got two young daughters in this neighbourhood and again, being downtown, you expect a bunch of people going through the alley at regular periods, but we have been here 10 years and never heard anything like this before, so yeah, very concerning,” Tarquin Caraher, a parent living in the area, said.

“It’s bad stuff and it’s bad for all the other law-abiding guys collecting bottles down this alley right? It just taints everybody,” Pat McDonald, a parent and neighbour said.

A security camera facing the alley which was attached to a garage captured an image of the suspect.

A homeowner’s security camera took video, and a still image that produced a hard copy for police investigators to help identify the suspect.

The still image clearly shows the bottle picker walking eastbound in the alley in the 3200-block of Elbow Drive Southwest at 9:53 a.m., on the morning of the assault.

Police said the boy was taken to the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre for care but he did not suffer any physical injuries.

Kenneth Hornby of Calgary is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday to answer to the charges.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers. ​