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Woman fights off attacker

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An assault occurred at the Castlegar & District Community Complex last week.

A 16-year-old male has been charged with sexual assault following an incident at the Castlegar Community Complex last week.

On Feb. 7, the teenager entered the women’s change room at approximately 8:45 p.m. and accosted an adult female who was showering.

The victim was able to fight the male off and was not physically injured, and the male ran away.

“He was identified and arrested the next day,” Sgt. Laurel Mathew of the Castlegar RCMP said, adding that the Complex’s hallway security cameras made the male easy to identify. He is also known to police, she added.

Mathew said this incident shouldn’t make women afraid to be at the Complex.

“Everybody wants to know what we can do to be safer, but this was such a random thing,” Mathew said.

“There was nothing to indicate that this was going to happen.”

She also indicated there were many Complex employees and other patrons in the building, so the victim didn’t put herself at risk.

The male appeared in court on Feb. 9 and has been ordered a 30-day psychiatric assessment.