Woman awoke to find man crouching by bed, police say
Building custodian faces charge of B&E with intent to commit a sexual assault
Police say a Calgary woman is still shaken after she allegedly awoke to find her apartment building’s custodian crouching next to her bed.
Staff Sgt. Bruce Walker, with the police sex-crimes unit, said the woman had gone to a southeast pub with friends and the building’s handyman last Saturday night. After the night out, she returned to her apartment in the 9900 block of Fairmount Drive S.E. and went to bed alone.
Walker said because he was the building’s maintenance worker, the accused carried keys to all of its units. About 3:20 a.m., hours after they had been drinking together, investigators allege he entered the woman’s apartment and was discovered crouching next to her bed.
Frightened, the woman demanded he leave and called police.
“Obviously, she was quite shocked by what happened,” Walker said. “We are providing her with victims’ assistance and we’re working with our community partners to provide her additional support she may need.”
Walker said the accused wasn’t armed and didn’t touch the woman.
Philip Allan Skulnec, 38, of Calgary is now charged with break and enter with intent to commit a sexual assault, and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
In 2007, Skulnec was arrested after he chased a female European student living in Edmonton up a stairwell while carrying a machete before forcing her into her own apartment suite. The victim didn’t know Skulnec.
It was the beginning of a 5½hour ordeal for the then-27-yearold woman, who can’t be identified, that saw her hands and ankles bound before she was repeatedly raped and violated with a 40-ounce rum bottle.
Skulnec contended it was a consensual “night of wild sex,” and he appealed his 2010 conviction only to plead guilty two years later to kidnapping and sexual assault, landing him a nine-year sentence that was reduced to 3 ½ years due to time already served.
He was also ordered to supply a DNA sample and placed on the national sex offender registry for 20 years following his July 2015 release.
Police encourage anyone who feels they have been the victim of sexual assault to report it immediately.
Obviously, she was quite shocked by what happened. We are providing her with victims’ assistance.