WARNING: This story contains disturbing details involving the sexual abuse of children. A jury has found Richard Neil, the man accused of sexually assaulting three children in southwestern Ontario more than 30 years ago, guilty on all charges. Justice Rosemarie Juganovic completed her charge to the jury on Thursday. The next morning, they returned with a verdict. Neil, now 67, pleaded not guilty to 17 charges, including multiple counts of sexual assault, kidnapping and uttering threats. Court heard that, while he does not deny the attacks happened as the victims described, he was not the perpetrator. The first attack happened in1992 at Idlewood Park in Kitchener, Ont. An 8-year-old boy told police he was playing with his friends when a man he did not know lured him into the woods, offering to show the boy some bicycles, and tied him to a tree. “I was scared,” the 8-year-old told police in a 1992 video. The boy’s sister took the stand at Neil’s trial. She described seeing her brother walk out of the woods with a piece of rope still tied around his leg and “totally distraught, crying.” Years later, investigators used DNA to tie the Kitchener assault two other unsolved cases. Years later, investigators used DNA testing to tie the Kitchener assault two other unsolved cases: the 1994 sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy in Norton Place Park in Brampton, Ont. and the 1995 attack on a 15-year-old girl in Wildwood Park in Oakville, Ont. The third one was also the longest, an ordeal lasting five hours. The three attacks were similar in nature: they all took place in parks, the attacker was a stranger to the children, the victims were all tied to trees with yellow rope, threatened and sexually assaulted, including being forced to drink urine. After a police investigation that spanned years and involved multiple services, Neil was arrested in 2024. At trial, the Crown argued the evidence implicating Neil was “so overwhelming that we need a new word for overwhelming.” DNA, later matched to Neil, was found on items from all three crime scenes. Fingerprints collected from an Oakville park also matched the accused. The Crown made the case that Neil’s “highly distinctive urine-drinking fetish identifies him.” Neil downplayed his admitted interest in urine drinking during cross-examination, saying it is “actually quite common.” He told court it was something he started doing around 2012, and only with consenting male adults. During his testimony, Neil repeatedly denied being the perpetrator of the crimes. More to come. If you, or someone you know, is struggling following a sexual assault or trauma, please reach out for crisis support:
