Young girl dragged off towpath and sexually assaulted

Published: Monday, 30 April 2018

 A TEN years old young girl was dragged off the Ashton Canal towpath on to wasteland and sexually assaulted.

The man, 23 years old Artus Kozlovski saw the young girl walking alone along the canal towpath near Openshaw, pounced, dragging her to nearby wasteland and carried out his attack, Alan Tilbury reports.

Managed to escape

After he had finished he calmly rolled a cigarette, and the girl managed to escape, seen by a local who then helped her and accompanied her home.

The attack took place on the 10th February, as reported in narrowboatworld, and the girl was able to recognise her attacker who was brought to justice, pleading guilty at Manchester Crown Court and sentenced to five years in jail.

'Horrific attack'

At the hearing, the court heard how the girl had been walking along Ashton Canal towpath when Kozlovski overpowered her and dragged her to wasteland near the towpath, covering her mouth as he assaulted her in what was described as an 'horrific attack'.

However he was caught on CCTV chasing her after she ran away then was later recognised as he was wearing distinctive clothing  so was arrested within hours of his image being released to the public by the police.

Genuinely shocked

Det Insp Claire McGuire, of Greater Manchester Police, stated:

"Every person that heard about this appalling case was genuinely shocked, struggling to comprehend that such a young girl could be so horrifically attacked by a stranger in their community.

"However it is the people in this community I'd like to thank, both for their support of this young girl and her family, and for helping us to identify Kozlovski, so that we could take him off the streets so quickly."

Kozlovski will remain on licence for an additional three years and has been issued with a sexual harm prevention order.