EDMONTON - Less than three weeks after a 75-year-old pawnshop owner was brutally beaten with a hatchet, police have charged a 56-year-old St. Albert man.

News of the arrest comes as a welcome relief to those who know the victim.

"Certainly I'm happy that they arrested him. This was so vicious and terrible," said filmmaker Rosie Dransfeld, friend of victim David Woolfson.

Woolfson, the owner of A1 Trading, suffered severe head and upper-body injuries on the afternoon of March 1 when he was attacked with a hatchet taken from his downtown shop at 9434 111 Ave., and then robbed.

Woolfson's eyes resembled "golf balls," his daughter Lauren Baram said after the assault. An undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry was stolen, police said.

Dransfeld, who chose to feature "the grouchy old guy with a mushy heart" and his store in a 2009 documentary called Broke, had feared the case would go unsolved, because residents of the gritty downtown neighbourhood weren't likely to help police.

Store security cameras weren't working at the time of the violent heist.

City police Det. Rob Paton of the robbery section suggested Thursday that this was an especially satisfying arrest.

"Just as this case touched a lot of citizens, it also had an impact on those who were involved in the investigation. Our robbery section detectives worked very hard on bringing this case to a conclusion," Paton said. "But credit also needs to go to patrol members who were first on scene, as well as the St. Albert RCMP who provided assistance."

Woolfson, whose wife died last year, has been recovering at his daughter's west-end home.

The Jewish immigrant, originally from South Africa, is a member of the Beth Israel Synagogue in west Edmonton.

Kenneth Angus Campbell, 56, of St. Albert, has been charged with robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.

cary.castagna@sunmedia.ca