WINNIPEG — A young man who interrupted a brutal attack on a baby says he’ll never forget the sight of the child being beaten in the street.
Tyler Bilsborrow, 18, stepped outside his family’s Winnipeg home for a smoke around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday and heard “weird sounds, like screaming sounds” nearby.
“At first I thought it was two cats fighting in a field because there’s a street lamp that doesn’t work and it was dark there,” recalled Bilsborrow.
Curious, he walked around a corner to see what was going on. He said he spotted a woman sitting on the pavement.
“I was walking slow at first. I thought she was just some drunk woman being stupid or whatever. As I got closer, I realized that was not what it was,” he said.
“As I was walking closer, I saw a lady there holding her baby around the neck, face down, hitting it into the cement.”
Bilsborrow said the woman let go of the child and starting running when he approached. He looked down to find the seriously injured child.
The baby looked less than a year old, but he couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl.
“It was completely covered in blood. It looked pretty bad. The nose looked like it was broken, all swollen. (The baby) could barely open it eyes. From head to toe, just covered in blood.”
The child was wearing only a T-shirt and a diaper, he said.
Bilsborrow took the sweater off his back, wrapped the baby to keep it warm and called police for help.
His mother, Pearl Bilsborrow, arrived home shortly after to the flashing lights of police cars and word that her son had saved a baby.
“This is a little life, a little human being, not a sack of potatoes or a doll. This is a little person with feelings and emotions. I don’t understand what this child could have done, why was this woman so brutal.”
Winnipeg police were tight-lipped about the investigation and would not confirm reports that a woman was in custody. Police would only say in a news release that officers were called to the area about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday regarding a serious assault.
The child was taken to hospital in critical condition and was in guarded condition later in the morning, police said.
The child abuse unit is investigating.