Warning: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some readers.
uncertain
that → contain → readers
Discretion is advised.
asserted
Discretion → advise → ?
A 48-year-old woman came face to face with the stranger who assaulted her when she was just 16-years old, in a downtown courtroom last Thursday.
asserted
she → come → courtroom
The woman’s name is covered by a court-ordered publication ban.
asserted
name → cover → ban
Reading from her victim impact statement, the woman recalled the violent sexual assault that happened in the early evening on Good Friday in 1995
She told court it happened “in the safest place she knew,” as she was walking home through a schoolyard from her local hangout spot.
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she → read → spot
“I lost my innocence on that day on many levels.
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I → lose → levels
The things I was forced to do I never had experienced,” said the woman sobbing and wiping away tears, taking long pauses as she spoke.
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she → force → pauses
“Do you know what it’s like to honestly believe you would be shot in the back while you walked away?
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you → know → back
I do.
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I → do → ?
I fully and completely thought my life was going to be ended in that moment,” she added.
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she → think → moment
The mother told court, as her two children watched from the gallery, that she has suffered from panic attacks for the past three decades, still looks at strangers with distrust, and has been affected as a wife and mother.
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she → tell → wife
Just minutes earlier, Leslie Richard King was found guilty of sexual assault by Superior Court Justice Brees Davies.
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King → find → Davies
King, 56, was 25 at the time of the attack and pled not guilty to assault with a weapon.
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King → plead → weapon
After an uncontested set of facts were read into the record, Superior Court Justice Brees Davies found King guilty of the lesser but included offence of sexual assault.
asserted
King → read → assault
It’s the latest cold case solved thanks to investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) submitted by the Toronto Police Cold Case section of the Sex Crimes Unit, led by Detective Ann-Marie Tuppling.
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It → ’ → Tuppling
IGG, also known as forensic genetic genealogy, is a process whereby crime scene DNA is compared to DNA from publicly uploaded genealogy databases.
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DNA → know → databases
Once close matches are found, a genealogist will narrow down which relative in the family tree could be a suspect, based on their age and whereabouts at the time.
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relative → find → time
Assistant crown attorney Brady Donahue read out the disturbing facts detailing how the 16-year-old was violently attacked on April 14, 1995.
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old → read → April
Donahue told court the teen was walking home when she noticed a man following her.
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man → tell → her
She turned onto Queen’s Drive and the man continued to follow her.
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man → turn → her
Donahue said as the 16-year-old eventually turned into the field of Amesbury Middle School and was crossing the field when she heard the man running behind her and heard a plastic bag he was carrying flapping in the wind.
“The man overtook her and said ‘come with me’.
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man → say → me
She didn’t do as he asked,” said Donohue.
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Donohue → do → ?
Brady said at that point, the man produced what looked like a gun from the bag and said “you better come with me.”
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you → say → me
“When she pushed the man away, the man said, ‘You better do what I say.’
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I → push → what
Having already seen what she thought was a gun, she did as the suspect asked,” said Donahue.
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Donahue → see → ?
Donahue told court, reading from the facts, that the man touched the 16-year-old’s genitals before forcing her to perform oral sex.
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man → tell → sex
The teen was then told to “go, get lost”.
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teen → tell → ?
She fled the scene and ran home, telling her mother what had happened before police were called.
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police → flee → mother
Later that night, the teen returned to the school grounds to show investigators where the sexual assault happened.
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assault → return → investigators
She went to Women’s College Hospital for a sex assault kit to be performed.
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kit → go → Hospital
Her sweater was also preserved by police.
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sweater → preserve → police
“For 29 years, the case remained unsolved,” said Donahue, who told court that thanks to the advancements of DNA, on Nov. 2, 2023, Leslie King was identified as a person of interest.
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King → remain → interest
Roughly a month later, on Dec. 6, 2023, police obtained a cup King had used from a public garbage can and swabs obtained from the cup lid were sent to the Centre for Forensic Sciences (CFS).
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swabs → obtain → Sciences
Analysis showed King could not be excluded as the source of the DNA from the 1995 sexual assault.
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King → show → assault
On Feb. 8, 2024, King was arrested.
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King → arrest → Feb.
He was released on a strict house arrest bail with a GPS ankle monitor two weeks later.
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He → release → monitor
On Sept. 8, 2024, a warrant was obtained for King’s DNA.
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warrant → obtain → DNA
That DNA was again compared to the sweater worn by the teenager on the day of the sex assault in 1995.
asserted
DNA → compare → 1995
On Oct. 1, 2024, a biologist at CFS again found King could not be excluded as the source of male DNA on the sweater.
uncertain
King → find → sweater
Donahue told court that King was living in Toronto at the time.
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King → tell → time
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
