A woman in Moncton is bruised and shaken up after her backpack was stolen by a man with a crowbar.
Stephanie Sweeny was walking to catch a bus to work Wednesday morning just before 6 a.m. when a black car pulled over.
“I stopped thinking maybe that someone was lost looking for directions,” she said. “At that time a gentleman got out of his car and he had a crowbar in his hand.”
Sweeny says the man grabbed her backpack and struck her with the crowbar.
She says he was driving a black Pontiac Sunfire, and that he was a tall white man in his 30s.
Sweeny was taken to hospital by ambulance. X-rays show nothing was broken.
“It was a shock,” she said. “You think that you are trying to help somebody. That someone needs help and all of a sudden you’re being attacked.”
Cpl. Jacques Cloutier with the Codiac RCMP says this type of crime is extremely rare.
“This is the first time I’ve had somebody actually struck with a crowbar randomly for a robbery,” he said.
Sweeny moved to the area two weeks ago. Her friend Katherin Atkinson is hoping some sort of action will come out of the attack.
“I need to believe that there is something we can do as a community,” she said. “Or working with the police to help deter the idea that crime is not only ok, but they can just be anonymous and get away with it.”
Sweeny says the attack has left her rattled.
“What is everything coming to?” she asks. “Moncton used to be a safe place to live. Now it’s just one thing after another, and you are not sure who you can trust.”
Sweeny says she lost cash and a tablet during the robbery.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s David Bell.
