A serious sexual assault on an 11-year-old girl has sent a shock wave through the girl's Winnipeg neighbourhood.

The girl was walking home from a friend's house alone on Arlington Street near Alexander Avenue at around 1 a.m. Saturday morning when a man driving a newer-model, four-door vehicle offered her a ride, police said.

The girl accepted the offer, and he drove her to a secluded area on Elgin Avenue, a few blocks away, where he threatened to kill her before sexually assaulting her, said investigators.

Police are continuing to search for a suspect described as a tall man in his early 20s, Asian in appearance with short, black spiked hair with brown highlights. He was wearing a black jacket with white stripes on the sleeves and grey sweatpants.

"I know a lot of people will probably be asking, 'What is an 11-year-old doing out at that time of the day?" police spokesman Sgt. Kelly Dennison said Sunday.

"I think the bigger question is: where can we find the sexual predator who did this?"

more

No, I disagree with the police officer. What the hell was an 11 year old girl doing walking around at 1 AM? How is that good parenting? People should know that there are some things that people will do under the cover of darkness to hide who they are that they would never contemplate when they are in full light. This poor girl was not being protected at all. There is no way that my daughter would be walking around at that time of night at that age, and she sure as hell would know not to accept a ride from a stranger. Wow. This whole scenario just blows me away it so easily could have been avoided.

The copy wouldn't be asking where they can find the predator, if an 11 year old wasn't walking by herself at 1 a.m...Was she not taught about taking rides from strangers...It sounds as if she got into the car willingly........And where the hell were her parents...My granddaughter is 13, and if gets slightly dark outside she calls for a ride home, better to be safe than sorry...

Exactly! I don't understand the whole situation. It's quite bizarre. We know that there are predators out there, the last thing we should do is make it easy for them to find prey.

I heard this on the news today. Crazy. That is not the best part of town, so I have to ask myself why an 11 year old girl would be out wandering that street at that time of the night! There's no way my daughter would be out walking the streets that late at night.

I did hear a quote from the head of Child and Family Services this morning saying that if he had his way the girl's parents would be charged. Hmmmm, not a bad idea!

I think they should be. They allowed her out at that time of night? I would have been there to pick her up from where ever she was, there is no way that my daughter would be walking past 7, never mind 1 AM! The parents shoudl be charged with neglect at the very least.

Here's the story from the Winnipeg Free Press. Like the article says, it's not a great part of town. Especially at 1:00am on a Saturday!

Thanks for that, Relle!

There were times in my preteens where I just didn't want to be somewhere and would prefer to be home. i took the liberties to go home whenever I felt like it. At the time I lived in a relatively dangerous city in Florida. I was 10 years old. Got to and from school by way of roller blades...approx 2 1/2 miles. and my best friend lived a mile behind the school. kids are daring and sometimes just don't believe anything bad will actually happen to them. this may have nothing to do with the parents. it is unfair to immediately blame them. and kids should be held accountable for their own actions. She may have not liked something going on at her friends house and decided to leave. it sucks that somethig bad happened to her. And parents.....sometimes your kids don't realize that you would come pick them up out of situations they don't want to be in because of all the whining you guys do picking up and dropping off kids when it interferes with your day time plans. top it off with a potentially embarrassing situation or a difficult situation that you will inevitably try and make them talk about even though they aren't ready....and yeah they will opt to walk.

What! Yea what mom and dad lets their 11yr old out on the streets at that time?

Ever since my daughter started visiting her friends, I have made sure that she understood that no matter what time it was if she wanted to come home, she just had to call and I would be there. It depends on the parenting. If the child has no faith or trust in their parents, then sure, they will not call or feel they can talk to their parents. That is why I talk to my daughter a lot and tell her that I will always be there for her and if she doesn't tell me her problems, then I can't help her fix them. Children need to trust parents just as much as the parents need to trust their children. But, anyone who let their kid out at that time of night...how could she respect or trust them?

So quick to blame the parents......the girl was walking HOME from a FRIENDS house. The adults at fault are the friends parents for not driving her home...not her own parents. What if her parents arranged for their daughter to spend the night with her friend and the friends parents got into a fight and the girl just left. Who said her parents didn't place their child in someone else's care for an evening so they could enjoy one night out....How come when something bad happens to a child the parents must be awful parents.

There's just no way I can agree with ravergirl. Even if she just wanted to leave 'the situation she was in', why the hell was she allowed to be in that situation at 11 years old in the first place? Kids are getting way too many privileges and it's putting them in more danger.

And no, kids should not be held responsible for their actions. As a parent, you go in knowing that until they're 18, you do what they do. The whole point of parenting is to teach them to stay away from certain things, and partially because you won't have to go through them, too. Haha

from Relle's link:

Norman Boudreau, vice-president of Beyond Borders, a national child-protection organization based in Winnipeg, suggested the girl's parents or guardians should face criminal charges.

"Child and family services should be involved," Boudreau said. "That child is certainly in need of protection. One in the morning. We know that's when the predators are out. That child would certainly be a prime target."

Beyond Borders advocates know of "a fair number of children" who are on the streets of Winnipeg at night, Boudreau said.

Federal and provincial legislation exists, he added, that could lead to charges against any adult supervising the girl, although Boudreau said it's unlikely the Crown would pursue charges.

So, yes, it is the responsibilty of the friend's parents. BUT, why wouldn't the girl call her parents to come and get her? Maybe she didn't want to get yelled at for waking them? I don't know, but I would hope that my daughter would have more faith in me and call me rather than walk home by herself at such a late hour.

Comes back to bad parenting. There is no reason an 11 year old child should be walking the streets at 1am.

maybe she needed sometime to think.
If your kids fully trust you that is fantastic. You really deserve a medal. but kids assume they will get in trouble a lot of times that their parents would have their backs. I just remember a bunch of situations from just a few years ago that I thought that I had done wrong and would be punished, and I was in the right had i chosen to speak to my parents. it is really confusing. I thought I was bad when I got my period, and I had already had the talks, and I still thought i was bad. It is really difficult being that age. It is really confusing and your head isn't always screwed on straight. plus sometimes you think that you know better than your parents

I do agree with " what is an 11 year old doing walking the streets at 1am. ?"
However i also agree with ravergirl... sometimes kids sneak out of the house and go places, the parents dont know they are gone, the parents could be asleep at the time. Or maybe the girl was supposed to spend the night at her friends place, and decided she didnt want to be there and was heading home. No one knows the situation of what made this girl decide to walk at that hour. The parents shouldnt be charged, questioned - maybe, to see if they allowed her to go out at that hour. Think about it... we have umpty million runaways every year, kids gettin mixed up in drugs / wrong crowd... is this something to blame on the parents? Maybe in some situations the child ran away from parents due to parents being strict and the child dont like the punishment given. Most runaway children are " runaways " due to being in trouble at home and dont want abide by rules. Some listen to their " bad influence " friends and want to please them. You cannot keep an eye on your children 24 hours a day. You have to give them some space.. say the girl was grounded to her bedroom for some reason... but she knew there was a party in town she wanted to go to..everyone was gonna be there. Do you think she isnt gonna sneak out and think she would be back before her parents wake up? ( I know this isnt the situation due to her being at her friends house, but its an example ) Teens do this all the time. However she should have known not to get in a car with strangers, thats where she is asking for trouble. There are good and bad out there, more bad than good. Parents need to talk to their children bout gettin into cars with strangers, and make the children fully aware of danger that waits for them. But then again these days ... alot of parents would rather do their own thing than to sit and talk to the children. Sad as it is, but we cannot control everything that goes on.
My children ages from 5 - 17 years old. Every one of them know not to get in a car with someone they dont know. And if they are in a situation where they are uncomfortable they call home for me to come get them, even their close friends call me when they need a ride home, whether they are afraid to call their parents or cant get ahold of them. I guess tho I'm there for my kids, not everyone is there for theirs.
I'm saying that the parents shouldnt be charged IF they are doing the best that they can as a parent. If they arent and knew she was out there, didnt care she was out there, then the girl needs to be placed in a home where someone cares bout her well being / safety. Remember we dont know the situation.. as to what made this girl walk.

I'm sorry to point your story out personally here, but you are volunteering it. Why did you think you were bad? If your mother explained the whole thing and was positive about the transition to womanhood thing and all that, there is no way you would've thought you'd been bad. I'm not trying to cut on your parents, but your views strike me as coming from a not-so-great upbringing. I'm sorry about that.

About the 11 year old girl. If her parents were doing what parents are supposed to do, the girl would not have been at a house where she felt uncomfortable. And if she suddenly felt uncomfortable, she should've known she could call up her parents and explain it to them. A child who is afraid to ask for help from their parents has bad parents.

I think there is a lot more to the story than what the girl is telling everyone.

My son will be 16 on christmas day if he wants to sleep over his friends house I call the friends parents and that goes the same if the friend wants to stay at my house his parent calls me to see if its ok. And I tell them he is not allowed out after 11:00pm the same for there child I always make sure that everyone is in the house before I go to bed and I get up 3 times a night and still check to make sure everyone is in the house.

That could very well be. That is a very, very bad part of town. Who knows what she could have been doing. And I would surely hope her parents taught her to never get into a stranger's car. That is an area known for prostitution. I'm not saying that's what she was up to, just those kinds of things go on in that area. Hopefully they will catch whoever did it and find out why she was allowed to walk home at that hour.

Anyway, at 11 years old, walking home at 1:00am in the middle of winter (I think it was around -20C that night) isn't the smartest thing to do. She should have known better.

i didn't have time to read every post in this thread (at work), so no flaming please. it seems to me that the common concensus is that it is the parents fault though. it may be partially their fault, but it is probably alot of the girl's fault too. i know that when i was growing-up, me & my friends did ALOT of stuff that our parents didn't know about. we would sneak out & do alot of stupid things. i hate what happened to the little girl, however, she most likely brought alot of on by doing something she wasn't suppose to be doing.

You misunderstand me. My mother was very attentive and as I always had my nose buried in one book or another it isn't as if I was informationally unprepared for those times in my life. But hearing about some things is far different than experiencing them. I thought I was bad because I was blessed with extremely painful monthlys that.....put it this way my third one prompted us to see a doctor. It hurt, I thought the universe was punishing me.

my upbringing.....prepared me for life. My mother is and was very attentive. and I remained well trained on what was and was not right...I made some really good choices and some really bad choices. I would be more than happy to discuss it with you in private.





as for your last statement...some kids aren't afraid to ask from help. some kids just don't want it.

it's a sad thing that happened to the girl but wasn't she ever taught not to take rides from a stranger? I can't say anything bad about running the streets at that time of day because I used to do it all the time with my friend when I spent the night at his house but I live in a small town.

I agree with ravergirl in that the finger should be pointed primarily at her friend's parents. When you allow your child to go to a friend's house, you're handing responsibility over to the people in charge. When I was young, my best friend (who lived one court over) and I would sleep at each others house, and my mum and his dad would (at night, after dinner) walk us both halfway, then hand one of us over to whichever parent was watching us that night. I can remember when I was 13 and I stayed at a friends house, and for some reason she was an absolute cow to me that night, so I grabbed my bags and I left her house. It was about 10pm, but her parents didn't say anything. They were just sitting there watching television. I couldn't call my mother because she was at work. Granted, I wasn't stupid enough to accept a ride from a stranger like this girl was. She probably just liked the fact that this guy was paying attention to her, without fully understanding what could happen. No parent is perfect, and nobody has a child who has never done something stupid that has made people think, wow shouldn't her/his parents have taught him/her better? in this particular case, the friend's parents should have been watching over the girl, they could have done something to prevent this from happening that night, whereas her parents couldn't.

Thats just terrible, where the hell where her parents?
Poor lil thing!

Jeez... Isn't this section suppose to be weird and funny? I just clicked without looking from the main forum. It's crap like this is why I don't watch the news anymore.

It's crap like this is why we need a few handfuls of vigilantes to run around and just massacre people like this. Perhaps after a few hundred dead pedophiles show up beaten and dumped in ditches... The next guy or gal will think twice... And if they don't... Well we still have dead sub-humans which is reward in it's self for a better world.

Heaven forbid if I ever 'Cut Sick, Vigilante'.

"Make myself a massive waste pile of human puss"! " GRRRRRRRR"
"Snap, burn, crackle"

where is that girl from Hard Candy when we need her?

Who? What now?

It's a movie about a young girl who hunts pedophiles using herself as bait.

"Ooooh" Hoped she kicked some major butt!!!!!

haha she did! that movie was absolutely amazing! 2 characters, 2 locations, and my male classmates holding their crotches for the entire second half of the movie. Brilliant.