HIGH ALERT IN ST-HENRI
Muggings rattle residents
Residents of St-Henri have been shaken up again by yet another incident in a series of assaults and muggings in the neighbourhood.
A 57-year-old woman suffered a head injury last week after being grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground while walking home near the corner of Notre Dame and Bourget Sts.
Although police say the attack seems to be unrelated to others — and violent crime is down in the Sud-Ouest borough this year compared to this time last year — a few alarming and well-publicized incidents in recent months have put residents on high alert.
Herby Whyne, the owner of HardKnox, a boxing gym on Notre Dame St. W., was about to mount his motorcycle to head home last Monday night when he heard the victim screaming for help.
“To hear that type of scream and know exactly what’s going on — it’s terrifying,” Whyne said.
While attending to the victim, Whyne witnessed a man dash between two cars, fleeing the scene on foot.
After unsuccessfully chasing the assailant for several blocks, Whyne returned to assist the victim, who was on the phone with police providing the details of her attack.
The woman told Whyne she was grabbed from behind and dragged to the ground.
“The bag was across her shoulder, so she couldn’t give it away even if she wanted to,” Whyne said. “They kept tugging at it and she banged her head on the ground.”
Police said it is not clear how many assailants were involved in the attack. The woman was carrying two bags and both were stolen during the assault. One bag was recovered after it was dropped, but no arrests have been made.
Whyne said the victim mentioned some of the other incidents as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. In July, martial arts instructor Joshua Harley escaped unscathed after fighting off two assailants along the Lachine Canal.
Before that, Harley had begun offering free weekly self-defence courses to residents of St-Henri at the gym he co-owns, in response to the assault of André Hobson last November.
Hobson was walking home from the Place-Saint-Henri métro station when he was attacked by five hooded men who beat him up.
Witnesses intervened and the assailants fled before police arrived. Police eventually arrested eight minors and one adult last February.
After learning about last week’s mugging, Harley told the Montreal Gazette that his gym — Tritton Performance/Harley Muay Thai — will offer 10 days of free classes during September to anyone in Montreal.
Like other residents, Harley wonders whether the attacks are connected or a string of isolated incidents. Although the suspects in Hobson’s assault were mostly minors, the men who attacked Harley in July were much older.
Harley also notes the difference in the victims targeted.
“What makes this one different is that everyone else that got attacked was very young,” Harley said. “It’s quite alarming that she wasn’t in her teens, 20s or early 30s like the others that have been attacked in the last year.”
The motives for the attacks also appear inconsistent.
While Hobson was assaulted for no apparent reason, both Harley and last week’s victim suffered attempted muggings.
Police say crime statistics in the area contradict public perception that attacks are up.
“There have been only 10 similar incidents in St-Henri this year compared to 21 at this time last year,” said Lt. Sylvain Malo of the Station 15. Malo does not believe this incident is linked to gangrelated activity.
Anne Barreaud was sitting in her living room last Monday night when she heard screams. She went to the woman’s aid and waited with her for the ambulance to arrive. Then Barreaud took to social media to inform members of a public Facebook group for St-Henri.
“My goal was to alert people and make sure that everyone was safe,” said Barreaud, who has resided in the neighbourhood since 2010.
Residents who belong to the Facebook group were planning to attend the Sud-Ouest borough council meeting on Tuesday to express their concern about the string of attacks in the neighbourhood.
City councillor Craig Sauvé will be in attendance, and plans to discuss the event with police.
“I really think it’s an isolated incident because it happened on Notre-Dame and Bourget,” said Sauvé, noting that the previous attacks occurred in less illuminated and populated areas.
“My heart goes out to the woman.”
Residents of the neighbourhood are posting safety warnings regularly in the Facebook group.
“The people in St-Henri are so united,” Harley said. “Everybody knows everybody. It’s a lot more (like a) small-town community than other parts of Montreal.”