Tip leads to arrest of assault suspect

Thanks to a vital tip from the public, Toronto Police have located and arrested a man in connection with the violent robbery of an elderly man in June.

On Aug. 30, at 6:35 a.m., Thushjanthan Vigneswaran, 24, of Toronto turned himself in to police at 53 Division. This came three days after police put out an alert notifying the public that Vigneswaran was wanted on charges of robbery, assault with a weapon, and assault causing bodily harm.

Police allege that at 2:43 p.m. on June 1, a man entered a coin laundry business located near Mount Pleasant Road and Eglinton Avenue and asked a 79-year-old man if he wanted to buy cologne or perfume. According to Detective Constable Ryan McIntyre, the elderly man “respectfully declined”, and the man left the store.

“(The man) came back moments later and asked the victim to get on the ground,” McIntyre said. “The victim asked why and he was then struck in the head with a blunt object.”

According to police, the man fell to the ground, and was then struck twice more in the head. While McIntyre says police aren’t certain what object the victim was struck with, he did say the victim thought it to be a tire iron.

With the man on the ground, the accused allegedly reached into the man’s back pocket, took his wallet and fled.

Police don’t know if any cash, debit or credit cards were used after the theft, however the wallet was never recovered. The man spent one night in hospital following the robbery, requiring stitches to his head for one of the many cuts he suffered.

McIntyre said the accused was originally supposed to turn himself in on Aug. 25, but failed to show up. Five days later, he finally did, after police released his name and photo. McIntyre said it wasn’t until a month and a half after the robbery that police got the break they needed.

“It was the tip from the public that led to his arrest.”

Vigneswaran was scheduled to appear in court the same day as his arrest, and according to McIntyre, he didn’t make bail, so he is being held in police custody until his next court appearance, on Sept. 16.