Halifax Regional Police are looking for a suspect in connection with two break-and-enters and a sexual assault.
Police responded to an apartment building in the 1500 block of Barrington Street before 6 a.m. Sunday. They say a 27-year-old woman awoke to find a man in her bed. She told police she yelled at the man and he fled the apartment on foot.
Further investigation revealed that the man had sexually assaulted the woman.
The women, whose identity is being protected, spoke exclusively with CTV News.
“I thought I was dreaming at first, and then I realized there was actually an arm, there were hands on me, and they weren't supposed to be there,” she said.
She says when she screamed, the man fled “like a dog with his tail between his legs.”
The encounter happened fast, like a blur, but she says certain things stick out in her memory.
“I remember his arm the most, that's like the weirdest part. I just remember waking up and seeing that arm,” she said.
She said she also recognized him from an encounter the day before, when she awoke to go to the bathroom and heard the door open.
“I looked around the door, and there was this man, and all he said was 'Oh, must have the wrong apartment,'” she said.
“Closed the door, and I locked the door, and I didn't really think much of it really.”
She says it’s important for her to speak out as part of the healing process, and also to let other woman know this man is still out there.
“It's all over that women are objects and sexual objects, and yeah, I'm tired of it,” she said.
While investigating the incident, police say officers arrested a man inside the building at 7 a.m. He was taken into custody for questioning and released without charges at 5 p.m.
At 11:30 a.m. a 34-year-old woman in the same building reported that she awoke to find a man standing in her bedroom at 5:45 a.m. She told police she confronted him and he apologized before fleeing her apartment on foot.
Police say it’s unclear how the suspect entered the apartments.
Police say they are still searching for a suspect, who is described as an Asian man in his 20s. He is five-foot-five inches tall with a slim build and short dark hair. He was wearing a shirt with large, dark horizontal stripes at the time of the incident.
“The description provided by both victims is the same, so we do believe the same suspect is responsible for both,” said Halifax Regional Police spokesperson Sgt. Pierre Bourdages.
Anyone with information about the suspect or the incidents is asked to contact police.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell
