Witnesses sought after mom, baby assaulted by stranger in Surrey

Police are asking witnesses to come forward weeks after a woman and her baby were allegedly attacked by a stranger in Surrey.

Authorities said the victims were waiting to cross 120 Street on the morning of Dec. 15 when an unknown man threatened and assaulted them.

The alleged victim, Sarah Squires, told CTV News she walked away with some minor bruising and her daughter, just 11 months old at the time, was unharmed.

However, Squires said she’s still feeling traumatized.

"It was horrible,” Squires said.

“Even to this day I'm not going for walks by myself, I'm scared to be by myself."

Cpl. Elenore Sturko told CTV News the one positive aspect of the otherwise disturbing incident is that Good Samaritans intervened and prevented a suspect from fleeing the area.

"They were able to stop this person from leaving so we could come and take them into custody," Sturko said. "You always want to hear that people still care, despite some of the stuff that's been going on recently… people did care about the mom and the kid."

Squires, who said she’s extremely grateful for those who intervened, hopes to see her alleged attacker brought to justice as soon as possible.

"I just don't want this to happen to anyone else, she said.

The suspect remains in custody more than a month after the attack. Sturko said police submitted a report to the B.C. Prosecution Service, but were asked to obtain statements from additional witnesses to bolster the case.

Authorities are not releasing details about the suspect's description, or the nature of the assault on the woman and child, to prevent contaminating the memories of potential witnesses, Sturko said.

"We want to be sure that we're getting 'pure version' witness statements so we're not releasing any details that a true witness would be able to tell us themselves," she added.

Surrey RCMP said the incident happened near 7474 120 Street at around 11:17 a.m. Anyone who was in the area at that time on Dec. 15, and who hasn't already provided a statement to police, has been asked to call the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.