A man is accused of rushing into three homes in the southwest of Montreal in order to sexually assault his residents in just 20 minutes on Tuesday evening.
Kofikale Ashley would have first entered an apartment on avenue Marin with the intention of committing a sexual act.
Then, the 41-year-old man would have reoffended in an adjacent street accommodation, this time strangling a second victim.
Ashley is accused of having recurred a third time a few minutes later. He would have at that time sexually assaulted and kidnapped a woman, who finally managed to escape.
The Montreal police patrollers quickly located and handcuffed the individual who fled the premises, the SPVM said by press release.
• Also listen to this Balado episode taken from Richard Martineau’s program, broadcast on QUB platforms and simultaneously on the 99.5 FM Montreal:
Kofikale Ashley appeared by videoconferencing Wednesday afternoon at the Montreal courthouse. He has remained detained for the moment and will be back Thursday for the rest of the procedures.
Since then, the police have increased their patrols on foot and carried out door-to-door in order to reassure the neighborhood, said the police force. A lookout committee has also been deployed.
The accused, who lives less than a kilometer from which he would have broken down, had no significant criminal history.
