Charges laid after Surrey groping incident

The Surrey RCMP says charges, including of sexual assault, have been laid against a 24-year-old man after a woman reported being attacked by a stranger in her Newton home last month.

Mounties previously reported that a woman said she was woken up by a stranger groping her in her home around 3:15 a.m. on July 20. The woman screamed for help, at which point the suspect left.

According to the RCMP, Jatinder Singh was arrested in connection with this incident on Aug. 16. He was charged with break and enter and sexual assault, and released on a number of conditions.

They include having no contact with the victim; not being within 50 metres of where the victim lives, works, attends school, worships, or happens to be; not being within 50 metres of where the alleged incident happened; and not possessing any weapons or knives.

Executive Director of the Battered Women’s Support Services Angela Marie MacDougall says the conditions imposed on Singh are far from adequate.

MacDougall says this kind of violence ranks on “the high end of seriousness” and one that every woman fears.

“This is the kind of crime, the kind of sexualized violence, that we expect the state to take extremely seriously,” she said.

She says the legal system has treated the incident as a “one-off” situation, whereas according to her, this could happen to anyone else in the public.

“This individual and those that would do this kind of sexualized violence is seeking women in general,” she said. “I would say that the criminal legal system is gambling with the lives of girls and women.”

Investigators say they believe there may be other people who have information about what happened.

“We encourage anyone with information to contact Surrey RCMP Special Victim’s Unit at 604-599-0502,” said Sgt. Tammy Lobb with the Surrey RCMP.