Transit sex assaults result in arrest of 2 men
Two incidents in March just the latest in a series of sexual assaults on public transporation
Metro Vancouver Transit Police have arrested two men for two unrelated sexual assaults in the same month on public transportation in Vancouver.
On March 2nd, a passenger on the number 33 bus travelling from the 29th Avenue SkyTrain station to UBC noticed a woman whose leg and thigh were being groped, Transit Police spokeswoman Ann Drennan said in a statement Thursday.
The assailant left the bus as police were being called.
The witness reported she had been sexually assaulted in the same manner three to four weeks earlier on the same bus, and two weeks later, the witness called police to report the man was back on her bus.
Police stopped the bus in the 2200 block of West 16 Avenue and arrested a 57-year-old man with no previous record.
Police said that because the victim is a Japanese ESL ([English as a second language] student who will not be returning to Canada, no charges related to the incident would be laid. However, a charge of sexual assault related to the March 2 incident where the Japanese victim was a witness, is currently pending.
In the second incident, a woman travelling on Canada Line at the Marine Drive Station said she felt her buttocks being groped from behind and turned and yelled at the perpetrator.
The victim reported the incident and provided a description. Transit Police immediately recognized him as a repeat sexual offender.
Joseph Wai Hung was arrested at his residence and charged. Drennan says he is a prolific offender with an extensive history. His next court appearance is set for April 14 in Vancouver Provincial Court.
The two March incidents are the latest in a number of such assaults on buses and SkyTrain.
In March police arrested German tourist Wolfgang Goffing for allegedly groping a woman on the Canada Line.
The same month a transit passenger posted news of another assault on her Facebook page.