Winnipeg is scary.

Breaking NewsBoy, 13, charged with raping and beating girl
By: James Turner

Updated: September 9 at 07:26 AM CDT

Print Article E-mail Article ShareThisA 13-year-old boy accused of raping, repeatedly battering and leaving an Internet "friend" bleeding in a Portage Avenue building has been released from custody.

The boy is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm after he and the 13-year-old victim -- a friend he met on the Internet -- had been out drinking and hanging out with other friends downtown.

Early Aug. 8, the two wound up in a stairwell of a downtown building where the boy allegedly made unwanted sexual advances toward the girl. When she refused to co-operate, he is alleged to have dragged her by the legs down two flights of stairs before repeatedly beating her and viciously sexually assaulting her.

He fled the scene. Police found the girl the next morning and took her to hospital.

Crown attorney Victoria Cornick said the girl suffered broken teeth and severe swelling to her face and other parts of her body.

The boy was arrested the same day and confessed in a videotaped statement to police, Cornick said.

The Crown was opposed to his release, arguing he's a high-risk individual who won't obey court orders.

The boy's lawyer blamed his actions and classification as "high-risk" on his upbringing on a northern reserve where kids are largely unsupervised.

"It's a universal problem in the community," Bill Armstrong said.

On the night in question, the boy was said to have been angry over others making fun of his "manhood" and bravery when he refused to fight older boys involved in a street gang.

The youth was released on bail last Friday after provincial court Judge Lee Ann Martin ruled that the boy's CFS group home could properly supervise him while his case is in the courts.

Martin ordered the boy to abide by a curfew, and to have no contact with the victim, possess no weapons and seek treatment for substance abuse.

james.turner@freepress.mb.ca