The lead singer of an Ontario band was attacked and beaten by a stranger last week in Winnipeg.
On Thursday evening, Sarah Smith, vocalist for The Joys, went out to relax and have a drink with the band's drummer Kevin Komatsu after spending the week recording at a Winnipeg studio.
The duo drove downtown to the Woodbine Hotel on Main Street where they made friends with some strangers. These people asked Smith and Komatsu for a ride home. On the way, Komatsu stopped the van so the men could go to the washroom.
While the men were outside one of the women that the band met at the Woodbine allegedly attacked Smith and then hijacked the van, driving off with Smith inside and speeding through neighbourhoods.
"I was like begging for my life telling her I'd pay her money and do anything just stop and she just kept saying she's going to kill me," Smith told CTV News.
The suspect finally stopped near the Gilbert Park complex and Smith says that's when the attack continued.
"She was kicking the back of my head. I had bruises all over my body," said Smith.
Finally after running away and pounding on a number of doors, someone let her in and called police.
Smith said the incident won't change her opinion of Winnipeg but she will never offer a ride home to strangers again.
Rebecca Flett, 27, has been charged with a number of offenses, including uttering threats to cause death and robbery with violence. She was also wanted on a warrant for another uttering threats charge on an unrelated matter.
-with a report from CTV's Rachel Lagac�
