Hamilton man charged in 2022, 2023 sexual assaults after extradition from U.S.

WARNING: This article contains details of sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​it or know someone affected by it. 

A 22-year-old Hamilton man who was recently extradited from the U.S. to Canada has been charged with two sexual assaults.

Police said the accused, Leikeze Cheruiyot, had been living in the United States for over a year and was extradited back to Hamilton, where he had a bail hearing Wednesday. He remains in custody, Hamilton police said at a news conference on Thursday.

Police said Cheruiyot grew up in Hamilton and attended high school in the Ontario city. He faces multiple charges, including aggravated sexual assault and break and enter to commit sexual assault. Police say the charges relate to an attack on a trail in 2022 and a home invasion in 2023.

The two survivors were "relieved" to learn of the arrest, Hamilton Police Service said. 

"This was a very difficult investigation, very long, but we're very happy to stand here today to hold somebody accountable for their actions," Det. Sgt. Jen Currie of the sex crimes unit said Thursday.

The July 2022 attack was near a trail on the city's west Mountain. A 56-year-old woman was on a trail near Upper Paradise Road and Donnici Drive, near William Schwenger Park, when a man dragged her off the path and into the woods.

Hamilton police said she was gagged and her assailant bound her wrists behind her back before assaulting her. He was caught by people walking nearby and fled. 

Shortly after fleeing, the individual was seen on surveillance video, which captured a clear image of him running, wearing a mask. Police distributed the video widely as part of their investigation, but it didn't lead anyone to identify the man to them — something that surprised investigators, Currie said.

"We put this out several times … hoping somebody would recognize him."

Currie said he appeared to be a teenager or in his early twenties, so police believed he could have attended a local high school and worked with school boards to try to identify him.

The incident focused attention on the safety of city trails, especially for women. Several other assaults have also been reported on Hamilton trails in recent years. 

Forensic evidence links 2 attacks  

The second attack was in August 2023, when a 74-year-old woman woke up to find a man in her West Mountain home. 

"The male assaulted the victim for over an hour before leaving the residence on foot," said Currie.

A link between the two attacks was discovered through forensic evidence in January, Currie said. 

"We had used different investigative techniques to locate males in the area," she said, declining to be too specific about the techniques used. "We worked back to him and were able to positively identify him."

That was in October, following which police located him in the U.S. and arranged extradition to Canada. 

He is charged with:

• Two counts of forcible confinement.
• Aggravated sexual assault.
• Break and enter to commit sexual assault.
• Sexual assault.
• Aggravated assault.

Man also faces charges in U.S.

Police thanked their U.S. counterparts for helping locate and extradite the accused, who they say was "living and working" in several locations in the United States after leaving Canada in September 2023. 

Virginia court records show the man has faced more than a dozen charges in the U.S. this year, including one in April and others in September, for trespassing, simulated masturbation and indecent exposure. The charges were laid in the Virginia municipalities of Henrico and Richmond, and he was released pending a trial, the records appear to show.

Insp. Andrea Torrie of Hamilton police's victims of crime unit said Thursday that police don't have information connecting the man to other local crimes, but are still investigating.

She said they were also working with provincial and federal databases that catalogue forensic information related to serial predators and will be notified if any matches are discovered.

"For two years, every day, we worked on this," she said. 

Currie described the process of telling the victims about the arrest on Wednesday, calling the two women "courageous."

"It's been a long time, so they weren't sure it was going to happen. They were very happy we had located somebody and identified them."

The impact of an arrest on assault survivors 

The reactions people have to traumatic events are often wide ranging and complex, Miranda Jurilj, public education co-ordinator with SACHA, a Hamilton-based sexual assault centre, told CBC Hamilton on Thursday.

Jurilj said it's common for people to have conflicted feelings when an arrest is made following an assault.

"Some could be feeling a sense of relief, that this can provide a sense of closure, safety or justice, while others could be in a state of retraumatization and feeling concern for going through the justice process," she said.

"Whether folks have to speak in court or not, it does bring these feelings that happened during the assault back to people's minds."

She said victims of other assaults will also often feel retraumatized by news like Thursday's arrest, and it can lead people to question their own experiences or compare them to those depicted in the media.

"We want to stress the importance of feeling you can believe yourself," she said. "If you are struggling to believe yourself, please know SACHA is available for you."

SACHA has a 24-hour support line available to support survivors of sexual assault. It can be accessed at 905-525-4162.

After the trail assault in 2022, avid hiker Melissa Kelly started a safety group for women using the city's trails. It's called Women's Walking Group of Hamilton.

She said Thursday that while she's glad an arrest was made, more needs to be done to prevent assaults on trails, such as increased police presence.

"There has been no police presence in the entire time, since I started this a couple years ago," said Kelly, who uses the Chedoke Radial Trail between one and three times a week. 

Police told CBC Hamilton in 2023 they patrolled trails "regularly."

"I have seen bylaw [officers]at the parking lot at the top, but not once have I seen police presence at all," Kelly said.