Man attacks paper carrier in North End

In the wee hours of the new year, a local woman was sexually assaulted as she went about her paper route.

At 3 a.m. on Jan. 1, a 53-year-old woman was delivering papers around Mountain Avenue and Aikens Street in the North End when a young man began following her.

After pursuing her for a few blocks, he approached her on St. John’s Avenue, pushed her to the ground and seriously sexually assaulted her. The man then fled.

Police are looking for a clean-shaven Aboriginal man with a slim build, brown eyes and short crew-cut black hair. He was wearing a light-weight black jacket, red shirt, baggy blue jeans and white running shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sex Crimes Unit at 986-6245 or CrimeStoppers at 786-TIPS (8477).

Home invasion leaves man in critical condition

Four men invaded a home in the Brooklands neighbourhood, beat up and stabbed a homeowner before robbing him.

Police say about half an hour after midnight on Jan. 10, four thugs forced their way into a home on Alexander Avenue and beat and stabbed a 35-year-old man inside. They then allegedly stole a number of electronic items, including a TV, computer, camera and video games before they ran away.

A woman and two children also in the home were unhurt. Police say the thugs were known to the victim and the robbery was not random.

Police have charged Ryan Patrick Neepin, 25, Michael Scott Kolba, 22, Frank Alexander Culbreth, 25 and Leonard Percy Lawrence Macdonald, 26.

They have all been charged with breaking and entering, aggravated assault, wearing a disguise and possessing stolen property. They have all been detained at the Winnipeg Remand Centre.