OTTAWA - A bloodied 19-year-old woman told her neighbour she stabbed a knife-wielding man who broke into her apartment while she slept and sexually assaulted her Thursday morning.

The neighbour told QMI Agency the woman banged on her apartment door at about 10 a.m. yelling that she had been sexually assaulted and to call police.

"There was a girl there, she was dripping blood," Sarah Kitney said. "I noticed she was completely nude except for a leather jacket.

"She told me someone broke in, attacked her, and had a knife."

The woman also told Kitney she had been forced to perform sex acts.

Kitney said she immediately brought the woman inside her apartment and they called police. She said officers arrived very quickly and took a man into custody. He was covered in blood from multiple knife wounds. His wounds are believed to be serious but non-life-threatening.

Kitney said the young woman told her she had somehow managed to take the knife from the suspect and stab him in self-defence.

She was taken to hospital with what Kitney described as "defensive" knife wounds.

The suspect, who a source told QMI Agency is 56 years old, is a resident of the building, Kitney said.

Police roped off a grassy area adjacent to the west-end apartment Thursday morning. Several cruisers remained parked outside the building, where officers could be seen interviewing witnesses.