Man arrested after 15-year-old badly injured in attack at Victoria tent encampment

Police in Victoria, B.C., have arrested a suspect in connection with theassault of a 15-year-old boy who was found seriously injured inside a tent in a city park late Tuesday.

In a statement Thursday,police saidofficers were called to reports that the teen was being assaulted and choked while visiting an encampment at Beacon Hill Park.

The suspectfled as officers arrived, the statement said. But Const. Cam MacIntyre said a38 year-old man was arrested in the park Wednesday and remains in custody.

Police are recommending charges that include assault, sexual interference and sexual exploitation.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps described the attack as a symptom of a much larger problem.

"I think it's a system failure. It's a child welfare system failure. It's a mental health system failure.It's a societal failure that a 15-year-old is living in a tent," she told CBC News.

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"A 15-year-old shouldn't be in a tent. A15-year-old should be at home, in foster care or in a shelter."

Those were sentiments shared byKelly Roth, executive director of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, who said youth homelessness doesn't receive enough attention from the provincial government.

She described the problem as invisible, because so many young people stay under the radar by couch-surfing or sleeping in out-of-the-way places.

"Right now, our system is badly broken when it comes to adequate and appropriately supporting youth. ... Youth are deserving of support regardless of their background or the activities or behaviours they've engaged in," she said.

Officers responding to the attack reported they were assaulted, bitten and spat upon as they triedto get medical treatment for the teenager.

They say campers tried to pull the teen away from them as he was apprehended under the Child, Family and Community Service Act.

MacIntyre says police later learned the victim is developmentally delayed and had been reported missing from home.