DNA leads to charges in brutal rooftop attack

The awful events of July 23, 2016 never made the news until now.

It was early morning, and a woman had just been raped on the rooftop of a Rideau Street business. She was then picked up off her feet and thrown off the roof.

She suffered vertebrae fractures and injuries to her pelvis, according to police and prosecutors. When she managed to get to her feet and hobble down the street, everyone in her path ignored her pleas to call the police. She then made her way to a corner store and asked the clerk to call for help, but was told to leave because they didn’t want any trouble.

The attack was reported after she went to the hospital the next day.

The woman, a sex trade worker whose name is shielded by a publication ban, didn’t know her attacker, but provided a description. A witness later recalled seeing a man leave the scene. But it wasn’t enough to keep the case from going cold.

However, police did find an unknown DNA profile at the scene. And then, three years later, that sample matched a profile that was entered into a databank in 2019 following an unrelated firearms case against Ottawa’s Ronald Pindi, according to the Centre of Forensic Sciences.

Pindi, 26, was arrested earlier this month and charged with sexual assault, aggravated assault and forcible confinement.

Pindi was denied bail last week after court heard arguments from defence lawyer Michael Smith and Crown Attorney Sabrina Goldfarb. Pindi has had problems while out on bail in the past; he once left his home while under house arrest, only to be apprehended on Rideau Street after a monitoring company alerted police that his GPS bracelet showed him to be at large.

The judge said Pindi’s alleged crimes were serious and that he wasn’t particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus. He ordered him detained at the Ottawa jail.

The judge noted that Pindi — who has a record for guns and drugs — mentioned no plan for the future or desire to change his lifestyle when interviewed for a pre-sentence report in his previous criminal case.

Pindi is being held at the Ottawa jail to await trial.