A 28-year-old Mexican man confessed to brutally beating a Canadian tourist in the resort city of Mazatlan last week but said he did not intend to harm the woman.

Police arrested José Ramón Acosta Quintero, who is expected to appear before a judge within the next two days to face charges of attempted murder.

Sheila Nabb, a 37-year-old office manager in Calgary, and her husband Andrew were vacationing at the five-star Hotel Riu Emerald Bay when she was found beaten and bloodied in a hotel elevator last week.

Authorities presented Quintero to the media on Saturday. He spoke in both Spanish and fluent English, according to freelance reporter David Agren.

Agren, who attended the news conference, said Quintero was "low-key" as he outlined his version of events.

"It wasn't planned or anything like that. It just happened in the moment," Quintero told reporters. "I didn't try to abuse her, or I didn't … I didn't try to kill her or anything like … or rob her or anything. I was just afraid and I wanted to leave."

Quintero said he got into the hotel elevator after a night of drinking with a Canadian friend and "doing a line of cocaine," with the intention of going to the top floor to look at the lights of the city.

He says he encountered Nabb, who he said wasn't wearing any clothes, at the sixth floor and when he tried to prevent her from leaving she screamed, and he panicked.

"I covered her mouth and I said don't … don't … please don't yell. I'm gonna go home … just stop. But she continued yelling. She got more afraid when I covered her mouth. And then I hit her … four or five times in the face with my fist. And then I left."

Reporter Ioan Grillo told CTV News Channel earlier Saturday the state's prosecutor said Quintero is known to "get friendly" with guests.

Police identified the suspect from a video where they could see him getting out of the elevator where Nabb was assaulted and from blood on one his sandals, Grillo said.

"The sandal matches some of the blood from the victim," Grillo reported the prosecutor as saying.

Agren said police also say they found khaki shorts and a grey sweatshirt that are similar to clothing seen on the suspect in surveillance video taken from the hotel.

Police remain baffled as to a motive for the attack, he said. According to Agren, authorities have devoted a lot of resources to the investigation.

"They have been taking this very seriously," he said. "This is a town where cruise ships stopped coming in last year, so that has really impacted the tourist economy heavily here."

Victim arrives home

Nabb arrived back in Calgary on Friday on a private air ambulance flight and was taken to hospital.

Peter Byl, who runs Latitude Aeromedical Works, said Nabb's flight home took 3 1/2 hours.

"She did really well on the flight," Byl told The Canadian Press.

Byl's company uses a Learjet 35 aircraft to fly Canadian patients back home from destinations around the world. They operate under contract from private insurers.

Every bone in her face was broken, according to her family.

She was put into a medically induced coma and her jaw was wired shut prior to facial reconstructive surgery. It isn't clear whether Nabb had that surgery in Mexico.

Back in Canada, about $10,000 has been raised to help cover Nabb's medical costs. The money has been raised at the clinic where Nabb works.

"We've really been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from friends to strangers to you name it," said Jocelyn Tindall, who is Nabb's co-worker at Active Back to Health Centre.

She added that dental work had been offered free of charge to Nabb.

"Now she's back in Canada, so we're very happy to hear that," said Tindall.

With files from CTVNews.ca's John Size