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An arrest has been made in the mugging of a 79-year-old man in his own church in downtown Vancouver.

The attack was captured by a security camera in the foyer of Holy Rosary Cathedral and shows the elderly man being roughed up and thrown to the floor before his attacker cleans out the victim's wallet.

A charge of robbery has been laid against 43-year-old Darcy Lance Jones, who police say calls himself a “professional panhandler”.

Mr. Jones, who is known to police, was picked up in an area not far from the church after being spotted by a private security officer.

Peter Collins, a 79-old-old former surgeon, came to the pews of Holy Rosary Cathedral almost daily to feel safe. He came to pray not only for himself, but for others – blessing parishioners from afar as they left the downtown Vancouver church.

But on Wednesday, his haven became a crime scene, when an irate panhandler who was not satisfied with the $5 bill Dr. Collins meekly handed over, shoved the senior citizen to the ground and snatched his wallet.

“It was a heartless, violent, shocking assault,” said Constable Howard Chow, of the Vancouver police. “Not only was he a senior citizen, he had already given him money. And it's all taking place during the day at the front of a church.”

Surveillance cameras installed in the cathedral's front vestibule years ago, for the safety of churchgoers but also so staff could monitor ceremonies, captured the brazen act.

Police would not release the victim's name, but parishioners identified the man as Dr. Collins, a former surgeon.

At about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dr. Collins entered the Roman Catholic Church's front foyer to attend morning mass, as he usually did. Again, the panhandler – a slim, Caucasian man who is between 40 and 45 years old – was there.

Each day, for four days, Dr. Collins would greet the panhandler and give him $5. On this, the fifth day, Dr. Collins didn't have time to stop and hand him money, but he reassured the panhandler that he would on his way out.

After mass ended, Dr. Collins stepped into the front vestibule to find the panhandler waiting. The elderly man reached into his wallet for $5, but the panhandler decided it wasn't enough.

The man grabbed Dr. Collins's wallet and slammed him onto the marble floor. The panhandler took out an undisclosed amount of cash, left the wallet behind and fled.

The former surgeon suffered injuries to his hip, but did not require hospital treatment, Rev. Glenn Dion said.

He described the victim as a fragile and generous man, and said the senseless crime has outraged parishioners.

“This poor elderly gentleman is being taken advantage of by a guy he's already given money to many times before,” he said. “And now this guy takes his donation, and then assaults him and then rips him off. It's just awful to see what people will do to elderly and vulnerable people.”

Constable Chow said the panhandler was not known to police, but regular churchgoers say they know him quite well.

Agnes West, 64, said the man often hovered outside the Richards Street church, aggressively pestering people for cash. Ms. West said she once had to confront him and tell him to leave people alone.

She said the amount of panhandling has “calmed down,” but clearly not disappeared.

Tackling these sorts of social issues is one aim of Mayor Sam Sullivan's Project Civil City, launched last year. Its goal is to cleanse Vancouver of what it deems public-disorder problems by 2010, in time for the Winter Olympic Games.

“In addition to tackling illegal and nuisance behaviours such as open drug use, aggressive panhandling and noise infractions, we must also work as a community to find compassionate solutions to the root causes of poverty,” Mr. Sullivan said in an open letter to Vancouverites about the project.

But long before that there was the Safe Streets Act – a contentious piece of legislation that bans squeegee kids and gives police the power to issue $115 tickets to hostile beggars.

Lorne Mayencourt, MLA for Vancouver-Burrard, was instrumental in passing the act in 2005, but took flak for personally trying to enforce it himself. Last year, Mr. Mayencourt tried to apprehend an aggressive panhandler, but was punched in the face. Critics of the act said it targeted vulnerable homeless people, and punished those who were already suffering.

Still, Mr. Mayencourt said the act has been effective, and this “disgusting” incident highlights the need to enforce it.

“There are still some very bad actors, and we need the police in Vancouver to enforce the Safe Streets Act,” he said. “This is an example of the pressures people are put under by aggressive panhandlers and we need to meet that head on.”

However, Constable Chow said the assault went beyond the Safe Streets Act.

“This is a violent criminal act … this is more than just intimidation or nuisance or what have you, this is someone who violently assaulted a senior citizen,” he said.

Mr. Mayencourt disagreed, saying this could have been prevented. He said he has received calls from several Holy Rosary regulars complaining about the same panhandler.

“Why is that that person gets to stay on the steps of that church and harass the parishioners? ... Where the heck are the police? They should have been dealing with this months ago,” he said.