Man arrested after woman beaten and sexually assaulted in minivan

VANCOUVER – A 50-year-old man has been charged in connection with the beating and sexual assault of a woman who was beaten and sexually assaulted after getting into a vehicle she thought was a cab in Vancouver’s Gastown district.

The 25-year-old traumatized woman told police she was driven to the east side of the city in the early hours of Oct. 12 and attacked in a dark-coloured minivan with sliding doors on both sides.

Const. Brian Montague says police located video surveillance footage showing what was believed to be the same van and released a portion of it to the public in an appeal for information, along with a description of the suspect as a big-bellied man with a shaved head.

He says a witness noticed a man matching that description driving a minivan and called police with the licence plate number.

Stephen Schienbein was arrested Thursday in Surrey.

He is facing four charges, including sexual assault with a weapon.