Police are investigating after a young woman was attacked from behind while taking pictures in Mill Bay Wednesday evening, Aug. 24.
The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she was alone on the beach adjacent to Shorewood Road taking pictures of Sidney at approximately 9:45 p.m. when she was tackled from behind.
She said the assailant pushed her face into the rocks on the beach, sat on the back of her legs, and began ripping at her shorts.
The woman fought back the best she could and, after a more than a minute of struggling, the assailant gave up the attack and ran away along the beach.
The woman wasn’t able to provide a description of the assailant as the attack came from behind, and no words were spoken during the incident.
The victim said she quickly returned to her car and drove home and her landlord, who is a police officer, called the Shawnigan Lake RCMP detachment.
“Two officers arrived and took my clothes for evidence and took pictures of the scratches and bruises on my face from the attack,” she said.
“They said they would go around the neighbourhood where it occurred and see if anyone saw anything and if there were any other attacks in the area. The incident certainly knocked some sense into me and I won’t be going out after dark by myself anymore.”