46-year-old arrested and charged with sexual assault following attack on University of Manitoba student

A 46-year-old man was arrested and charged with sexual assault after a student was attacked while she slept in a University of Manitoba residence hall early Friday morning.

A man broke into the Arthur V. Mauro Residence on Dafoe Road on the U of M’s south Winnipeg campus and then forced his way into the victim’s room while he was sleeping at 4:45 a.m., Winnipeg police said Friday.

The woman fought off the intruder who entered her room and physically attacked him. The injured are being treated and are in stable condition, police said Friday afternoon.

They released images from security video showing the suspect in the attack and a description of the man.

Around 11 p.m. Friday, officers responded to a call from a person who spotted a man matching that description in the southbound lane of the Pembina Expressway, police said in Saturday’s update.

They found him in the 1800 block of Pembina Highway north of Abinoji Mikanah. He was arrested and turned her over to the police department’s sex crimes unit.

They said they determined 46-year-old Garry Junior Edwards entered the residential building, entered a secure area and then entered the victim’s room.

Edwards faces a number of charges, including sexual assault, robbery and multiple counts of breaking and entering, as well as a charge of attempting to overcome resistance by strangling, suffocating or suffocating a person.

The Winnipeg Police Service says anyone who has been sexually assaulted can access victim services at 204-986-6350 or through the Klinic sexual assault crisis line at 204-786-8631.