EDMONTON – A man police believe forced his way into the home of an elderly woman and sexually assaulted her on Canada Day has now been charged.
In mid-afternoon, the woman, in her 90s, answered a knock at a door in the neighbourhood of 100th Avenue and 150th Street. A man then forced his way inside the home, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
The man left the home with her valuables and fled the scene on a black bike, witnesses said.
The woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Police do not believe the woman was targeted because of her age or any other reason.
"At this point in time, I don’t see any connection," Acting Staff Sgt. Ryan Tebb said. "I don’t think they had any knowledge of each other."
However, the elderly victim told Global News that she recognized her attacker as a friend of a relative.
From a witness description, officers in other parts of the city recognized a man they had dealt with previously, and began to distribute his name, Tebb said.
Early Saturday morning, downtown officers believed they spotted the suspect near 111th Street and 104th Avenue, but he fled before they could speak to him. However, those officers found property from the elderly woman’s house, as well as identification that matched the man they were searching for.
Then, early Sunday morning, police received a complaint of a man sleeping on a condo patio at 117th Street and 100th Avenue and arrested 36-year-old Kevin William Harris.
Harris has been charged with housebreaking with intent, unlawful confinement, robbery, sexual assault, theft under $5,000, possession of break-in instruments, trespassing and resisting a peace officer.
Police say he resisted arrest and was slightly injured by officers.
Tebb said he could provide no details of the nature of the sexual assault.
"I don’t want to get into specific details to prevent any potential embarrassment for our complainant in this matter, it’s obviously sensitive in nature."
Harris is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday.
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