Extradited man charged in violent sexual assaults in Hamilton in 2022, ’23

Hamilton police have arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with violent sexual assaults on two women in 2022 and 2023.

The first assault happened two years ago, and while there was clear video of a suspect and forensic evidence, it took the cooperation of local officers and U.S. police to identify and arrest the suspect.

When Hamilton police released video of a sexual assault suspect in July 2022 they expected someone to recognize him quickly.

The video was captured by a trail camera on Hamilton’s West Mountain, after police say a woman was walking in the area of Upper Paradise Road and Donnici Drive at around 9:30 a.m. July 13 when she was approached by an unknown man and dragged off the trail into a wooded area.

Detective Sgt. Jen Currie said the woman was gagged and her wrists were bound behind her back, “the man proceeded to assault her but was interrupted by witnesses in the area. He was captured on video in the area of Edgehill Drive.”

Police said that at the time, “investigators exhausted all investigative steps but were unable to identify the male offender”.

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Then on Aug. 7 of last year a 74-year-old woman was alone in her home, sleeping on her couch, when an unknown man entered her house at around 3 a.m.

Police say the man assaulted the woman for over an hour before leaving the area on foot.

“In January of 2024, forensic evidence allowed us to connect the 2022 and 2023 assaults to the same male suspect,” Currie reported.

The police say they identified the suspect in October of this year using forensic information that the man was living in the U.S. He was later extradited from Virginia.

22-year-old Leikeze Cheruiyot now faces several charges including aggravated sexual assault and forcible confinement.

He appeared in court yesterday and remains in custody.

“This was one of the cases that we really connected with our victims,” said the Detective Sgt. “One of the best moments of this job is to tell victims that we located and arrested somebody, and we did that yesterday and it was an awesome experience.”

Anyone with information that could help in the investigations is asked to call Detective Constable Ben Kingdon at 905-540-5543 or email: bkingdon@hamiltonpolice.ca.

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