Skip to content

Nanoose Bay sledgehammer assault leads to end of theft spree

64-year-old wrestles female assailant to ground after being struck in eye
9304885_web1_171108-PQN-M-assault-nanoose-web-nov6
Oceanside RCMP respond to a report of an assault at a home in Nanoose Bay, where a suspected thief was arrested Monday, Nov. 6, 2017. — J.R. Rardon photo

A 64-year-old Nanoose Bay man withstood a sledgehammer blow to his eye before wrestling his female assailant to the ground outside his home Monday afternoon, Nov. 6, Oceanside RCMP reported in a news release.

The woman was arrested by responding police officers, who subsequently found her in possession of a number of items reported stolen in Nanoose Bay over the course of the preceding week.

RCMP were called at approximately 3 p.m. Nov. 6 to an assault in progress at a residence on Beaver Creek Wharf Road. They found the 64-year-old owner of the property had checked on an RV in his yard to find a female he did not know squatting inside.

RCMP said the 31-year-old woman, of no fixed address, “grabbed a hammer and struck the man in the eye in an attempt to escape.” The man was able to drag her out of the RV and onto the ground, where he was assisted by a neighbour who had heard the commotion, according to the RCMP release.

The victim of the assault received “significant, but non-life threatening injuries,” according to police. The man was overheard telling a B.C. Ambulance paramedic he had been hit by a five-pound sledge.

The female assailant was known to police, who took her into custody upon arriving at the residence. She faces charges of break and enter, assault with a weapon and failure to comply with a recognizance and faces a court date Nov. 28, the RCMP said.

Subsequent to her arrest, police reviewed several reports of vehicle break and enter and theft from the Nanoose Bay area in the preceding days, in which change and a number of personal items were taken. Some of the items were found in the woman’s possession, RCMP say, and further charges are expected as a result.

— NEWS staff and RCMP news release