The Leader has learned a Surrey sex trade worker was taken to remote area last year, beaten, and sexually assaulted.
Surrey RCMP are now calling for anyone who has any information to come forward.
Between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Oct. 18, 2012 the woman was picked up by two men at 105 Avenue and King George Boulevard. She was driven to a spot on Colebrook Road, where she was beaten and sexually assaulted.
She was later found and taken to hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.
Police say it has taken them four months to appeal for any witnesses because investigators were initially following leads which have just recently turned out to be dead ends.
Surrey RCMP acknowledges it would be preferable to get the word out sooner for a public appeal – a practice that's undertaken in most cases.
Police say they warned sex trade workers at the time that the pair was still on the loose.
But Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Women's Services in Surrey, says the RCMP have been far too lax in informing the public on this file.
"Not good enough," Abbott said Wednesday. "The RCMP need to be on top of that in a much more efficient way."
She believes there's a two-tier system for police services in this city.
"If (the assault) had happened to somebody's mother in South Surrey, who was at home cooking dinner when she was attacked, absolutely, it would have gone out immediately," Abbott said.
Police say the case was treated seriously from the outset.
“From the early stages of this investigation it was clear to our investigators that this was a serious assault involving a specific segment of our community involved in high-risk activity,” said Surrey RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet. “Several persons of interest were identified early on in this case, and many have been eliminated through various investigative avenues, including forensic evidence. Investigators are now seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the persons responsible.”
The driver of the vehicle is described as a South Asian male, in his early to mid-20s, 6'1", weighing 190 to 210 lbs. with a lean build, wearing a white hoodie with red strings and words or pattern, blue jeans, and dark leather shoes.
The passenger, also a South Asian male, is in his early to mid-20s, 5'10" or 5'11", 200 to 230 lbs. with a stocky build, wearing a dark top with white design on it, dark fitted jeans, yellow gold chain around his neck and white running shoes.
They were driving an older-model metallic blue (blue with "flakes"), four-door sedan, (possibly a Honda Civic or Acura) with low-profile tires, dark-tinted windows, a rear spoiler and rain guards on the rear passenger window.
Anyone with any information regarding this attack or the suspects are asked to call Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502, or to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).