August 06, 2008 - 02:35
By Jennifer Stone and Stefanie Swinson
COURTICE -- A Peterborough man is under arrest after a 12-year-old girl was abducted from Peterborough, sexually assaulted and left in Courtice early Wednesday morning.
A police media release issued just after 2 p.m. said 32-year-old Stanley James Tippett of Collison Crescent in Peterborough was arrested at 8:40 a.m. on Manvers Station Road, near Porter Road in Manvers Township.
Police said he was in a vehicle at the time of the arrest, which occurred without incident.
Mr. Tippett is charged with abduction and sexual assault, and will appear in court in Peterborough Thursday.
The situation unfolded at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. The 12-year-old had been at a birthday party with friends in the south end of Peterborough when, somehow, she wound up in a red van, police said.
"We don't know if the 12-year-old got in willingly or was pulled in," Mr. Selby said.
At about 2:30 a.m., residents near Courtice Secondary School, at Nash and Courtice roads, heard a scream and someone called police.
"I heard somebody yell," nearby resident Kathy Girard told newsdurhamregion.com's Stefanie Swinson. "I didn't take any notice, because you hear stuff all the time. I've called police before and they don't come because there's parties in there all the time.
"Now, I wish I had've (called)," she said.
Initially, police were uncertain what sort of situation they were responding to, Mr. Selby said.
"Often, when you get a call for a car behind a high school, it could be people smoking dope or a couple making out," he said.
When the red van took off, police initially gave chase, eventually calling the pursuit off as speeds made public safety a concern.
The van was later found in the Browning Street and Shelley Avenue area of south Oshawa. Wednesday morning, police were collecting evidence at Courtice Secondary School as well as on Townline Road, south of Olive Avenue, where tire tracks were found.
It was only when they went back to investigate that they found the 12-year-old, who had been sexually assaulted.
"It's a few minutes later that we go back and check the scene and find her," Mr. Selby said.
Police in Peterborough say the 12-year-old's grandmother, with whom the girl was to spend the night, called to report her missing at about 1:35 a.m., when she failed to return from the birthday party.
Initially, there was concern for a 16-year-old girl who had been with the 12-year-old, and couldn't be immediately located. At about 7:30 a.m., she was found, safe and sound, at another friend's house in Peterborough, Mr. Selby said.
The 12-year-old was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
"Obviously, it's a traumatic event, Mr. Selby said.
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