Police, Mac on lookout for sexual predator
The first young woman was awakened in her own bed by a strange man sexually assaulting her.
Three weeks later and four blocks away, the next victim woke to find a man she didn’t know in her bedroom.
There are terrifying similarities between these two Westdale intrusions that have put police, McMaster University and the community on high alert.
Both break-ins happened at student houses with other housemates at home. Both happened just before sunrise. In the first, he came in through an unlocked door. In the second, it was an unlocked window. Each time the woman screamed and the man ran away.
And both times, the startled and frightened victim was unable to get a good look at the man in her room.
Police always have an increased presence in the neighbourhoods surrounding McMaster during frosh week, but this time they are watching for what may be a serial sexual predator as well as all the usual issues — public intoxication, loud parties, vandalism — that crop up during the return to school.
Det. Sgt. Dave Dunbar of the Victims of Crime Unit says investigators cannot definitively say the two incidents are “linked” because of the vague descriptions of the intruder. But he is quick to point out the many similarities.
On Aug. 3, in a student house on Sterling Street near the Mac campus, a 21-year-old woman woke in her bed at 5:45 a.m. when a man touched her in a sexual way. He had climbed in through an unlocked second-storey window.
The woman screamed for help and the man — who had a dark hoodie over his head — fled out the door of the house, Dunbar says. Other roommates checked the house to be sure he was gone.
Hours earlier, the victim had walked home after working a shift at a nearby restaurant. Police are considering the possibility she was followed or watched. Dunbar says the woman is traumatized but did not need medical care.
On Aug. 28, at another student house on Bond Street South between Main and King Streets, a few blocks east of the first attack, a young woman woke at 6:15 a.m. to see a man in her room. Dunbar says the intruder came in through the unlocked front door.
Again the woman screamed and the man fled the house.
Dunbar says it is crucial for Westdale residents — especially those in student homes — to become more “vigilant about their surroundings” and to secure their doors and windows. He acknowledges doors are often left unlocked as housemates come and go, but students need to get in the habit of keeping the doors locked at all times. And he understands windows are left open in homes with no air conditioning, but he recommends at least securing windows so they cannot be fully opened.
McMaster posted a security alert on its website this week about the break-ins in an effort to get those safety tips out to students. And sexual violence awareness and prevention is a part of training for all student leaders at the university and features prominently in “Welcome Week” activities.
Dunbar says the most likely way these crimes will be solved is by someone spotting something suspicious in the neighbourhood — a car that doesn’t belong or a stranger who appears at odd hours, and reporting it to police.
Anyone with information about these two incidents, or who has seen unusual activity in Westdale, should call Hamilton Police at 905-546-4925 or Det. John Tselepakis of the Sexual Assault Unit at 905-540-5545 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Also, McMaster Security Dispatch at 905-525-9140, ext. 24281.