Minutes after a masked teen raped her in the woods, a Manitoba woman unwittingly enlisted the aid of the same boy to find her attacker, a court has heard.

The 27-year-old woman ran to a friend's house and reported she had been raped, not knowing one of two male teens present was the one who had attacked her.

"When she tells them what happened to her, (the then-15-year-old accused and another male) went out purportedly looking for the perpetrator and they ended up walking the victim home," Crown attorney Ari Millo told court Tuesday.

Court heard the victim had been walking home sometime after 1 a.m., March 5, 2012, when a male came up behind her, threw her over his shoulder and then took her to a wooded area where he raped her. The attack ended 10 or 15 minutes later when the teen heard approaching voices and fled.

The now 17-year-old boy pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman as well as sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl and a seven-year-old girl when he was 12. The assaults on the children both involved intercourse.

"We aren't talking about an isolated incident," Millo said. "We are talking about multiple victims over a three-year period."

Judge Tracey Lord agreed to a joint Crown and defence recommendation the boy be sentenced to the equivalent of 21 months time served plus two years supervised probation.

The First Nation on which the attacks occurred is not being identified so as to protect the identities of the victims.

In July 2012 the boy stood trial for sexually assaulting a then 10-year-old girl. The case fell apart after the girl was unable to identify herself in a police video interview and the boy agreed to sign a one-year peace bond.

But police had secured a DNA sample from the boy and later matched it to DNA found in the attack on the adult woman.

The incidents involving the two child victims came to light after a CFS investigation probing the high incidence of sexually transmitted infections among children in the community.

As part of a plea bargain with the Crown, charges involving two additional alleged child victims were stayed.

The accused was described as low functioning, has been in and out of foster care for a decade, and has a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Millo said the boy's family members continue to believe he is innocent of all charges against him.

"This becomes a problem in supporting a genuine plan for rehabilitation," Millo said.

The accused is now in foster care in Winnipeg. Millo recommended Lord not allow him to return to his home community until he has completed probation.

"There aren't adequate resources in that community to manage his risk and the risk is enormous," Millo said.

Defence lawyer Jeremy Kostiuk argued banishment was too harsh a punishment for a teen who has no support network outside his home community.

Lord agreed to allow the teen to visit his home community after he has completed sex offender counselling.

dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @deanatwpgsun