VICTORIA -- Police in Victoria have arrested a man after two random assaults Friday, including one that sent a pregnant woman to hospital.
Officers were called to the area of Johnson and Wharf streets shortly after 3 p.m. after a woman reported she was punched by a stranger without provocation. The woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Several bystanders reportedly witnessed the attack and followed the man, holding him until police arrived.
Patrol officers transported the man to police cells, where he allegedly assaulted a police officer. The officer was not physically injured, according to VicPD.
During their investigation, officers learned of a second random assault that occurred shortly before the initial call.
Police say the same suspect approached a pregnant woman in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue and punched her.
The woman was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police say the suspect was in breach of a conditional sentence order stemming from a conviction for assault causing bodily harm after a random, unprovoked assault on a woman near Douglas and Johnson streets in 2019.
Brett Joseph Mountford, born in 1989, has been charged with two counts of assault and one count of assaulting a peace officer. He is due to appear in court in Victoria on March 25.
Victoria police continue to investigate. Anyone with information on the assaults is asked to contact police at 250-995-7654 or Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
