Woman's accurate drawing of attacker helps in his capture

A woman in Yichang, Hubei Province drew a portrait of her alleged sexual attacker, which helped police capture him.

It was late at night when the woman, 25, was on her way home after work at the end of June. After she entered a corridor, she realized someone was behind her who she initially thought to be a neighbour. But when she went upstairs and arrived at the second floor, the man suddenly attempted to sexually assault her.

The woman shouted for help which caught the attention of a neighbour who opened the door to have a look. The man soon fled the scene.

The victim, who's skilled at drawing, called police immediately and made a portrait of the suspect she had drawn based on her memory, which she gave to Xiling police the next day, leading to his capture.

While police were working to track down the suspect, two similar cases occurred in the same building on Luluo Road on August 11 and 13, and in both cases the victims lived on the second floor.

After checking the CCTV videos, police found the suspect disappeared close to the Huaxiang commercial center. They took the portrait drawn by the first victim to the communities around the commercial center and showed it to the residents. A passer-by soon recognized the identity of the man in the picture.

The suspect, 33, surnamed Zhang, is a married man from Yuan'an. He has been detained by local police twice in the past, in 2004 and 2007, for molestation.

He was caught by police on the afternoon on August 13 — police said the portrait had a 90% similarity to the suspect.

Zhang confessed to committing five molestation cases including the three mentioned above. 

Further investigation is still underway.