UBC sex assault suspect charged
Man's arrest not related to series of 2013 sex attacks and one earlier this year
Police have arrested a 27-year-old UBC student following an attempted sexual assault of a woman around 1 a.m. PT Wednesday on campus near Totem Park Residence.
RCMP say the suspect has been charged with sexual assault and assaulting a police officer. Richmond Provincial Court confirms he was released on bail and has a court appearance scheduled for March 31.
University RCMP Cpl. Brenda Winpenny said they responded to a call of a man choking a female in the lobby of the residence.
She said the suspect placed one arm around the woman's neck and attempted to drag her out into a wooded area, but she was able to get away.
"It would appear at the time of his arrest the suspect was under the influence of either drugs or alcohol," she said.
Winpenny added the suspect cannot be named because of a publication ban.
UBC campus security director Barry Eccleton says this attack is not related to the spate of disturbing sexually-motivated attacks by men on campus in 2013 or the recent assault of an 18-year-old woman on the south campus in February.
Last month, a CBC News investigation into campus sex assaults revealed that UBC's published data on these crimes was out of sync with RCMP figures.
The investigation found that the number of sexual assault reports received by the University of British Columbia between 2009 and 2013 is less than a quarter of the number reported to the RCMP's UBC detachment.during the same time period.