Five youths, aged 12 to 14, accused of sexually assaulting three youths on Halifax Transit bus
Five youths between the ages of 12 and 14 are facing charges after police say three other youths were sexually assaulted on a Halifax Transit bus last month.
Halifax District RCMP received a complaint on Oct. 22 about sexual assaults involving several young people on a bus in the Lower Sackville, N.S., area.
Police learned the five youths had boarded Halifax Transit bus 87, which was travelling from the Dartmouth terminal to the Lower Sackville terminal, around 9:45 p.m.
Shortly after boarding the bus, police allege the youths approached three other youths, who were already on the bus, and sexually assaulted them.
Investigators say the two groups were not known to each other. No other details about the bus passengers have been released.
"Any sexual assault investigation involving youth, we don’t disclose information pertaining to the gender. Oftentimes that can lead to their identity," said Nova Scotia RCMP Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay.
Police say the five youths, aged 12 to 14, have since been arrested. They are facing charges of sexual assault, uttering threats and criminal harassment.
They have all been released on conditions and are due to appear in Halifax Youth Justice Court at a later date.
In a statement to CTV Atlantic Wednesday, Halifax city officials said:
"Halifax Transit has zero tolerance for all forms of verbal, physical or sexual harassment, gender-based violence, or any behaviour that causes harm to others on our buses and ferries. We will continue to cooperate with the RCMP as they move forward through their investigation.”
Meanwhile, police believe there are people who were travelling on the bus that night who may have witnessed the incident.
"We did gather video footage of the incident and we do ask the public who may have witnessed the incident to come forward and contact police with any details they may have seen," said Tremblay.
They are asking anyone with information to contact police at 902-490-5020 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Survivors scream as desperate rescuers work in Turkiye, Syria
Rescue workers and civilians passed chunks of concrete and household goods across mountains of rubble Monday, moving tons of wreckage by hand in a desperate search for survivors trapped by a devastating earthquake.

Powerful quake rocks Turkiye and Syria, kills more than 3,400
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,600 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled thousands of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble.
New details emerge ahead of Trudeau-premiers' health-care meeting
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about how provinces anticipate the talks will unfold.
Quebec minister 'surprised' asylum seekers given free bus tickets from New York City
Quebec's immigration minister says she was 'surprised' to learn the City of New York is helping to provide free bus tickets to migrants heading north to claim asylum in Canada.
opinion | Don Martin: Alarms going off over health-care privatization? Such an out-of-touch waste of hot political air
The chances Trudeau's health-care summit with the premiers will end with the blueprint to realistic long-term improvements are only marginally better than believing China’s balloon was simply collecting atmospheric temperatures, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, 'But it’s clearly time the 50-year-old dream of medicare as a Canadian birthright stopped being such a nightmare for so many patients.'
'Buildings are broken': Calgary man in Turkiye describes disaster scene post-earthquake
Calgarians at home and abroad are reeling in the wake of a massive earthquake that struck a war-torn region near the border of Turkiye and Syria.
U.S. 6-year-old who shot teacher allegedly tried to choke another
A 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his first-grade teacher constantly cursed at staff and teachers, chased students around and tried to whip them with his belt and once choked another teacher 'until she couldn't breathe,' according to a legal notice filed by an attorney for the wounded teacher.
Strongest earthquake to hit Buffalo in decades causes 'surreal' rumbles in southern Ontario
A 3.8-magnitude earthquake that struck near Buffalo, N.Y. Monday morning was felt in southern Ontario, officials say.
NEW | Pilots safe after B.C. air tanker crashes in Australia
Two pilots are safe after a large air tanker owned by a Vancouver Island company crashed while battling wildfires in western Australia on Monday.