Richard Neil found guilty on 17 charges, including sexual assault of three young children 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 in 1992 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 1995 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: 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. Police investigation 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. “What these three victims were put through is not only physically and psychologically – but given their ages – it’s extremely traumatic,” said Staff Sgt. Steve Hibbard, with the Waterloo Regional Police Service, at a 1995 press conference. Hundreds of potential suspects were interviewed as part of the police investigation, which was dubbed “Project Woodland.” They even went as far as requesting pictures from a Russian satellite in their quest to find the “Woodland Rapist.” Authorities reopened the case in 2009 and Neil was arrested in March 2024. Neil’s trial At trial, the Crown argued the evidence implicating Neil was “so overwhelming that we need a new word for overwhelming.” Evidence from all three crime scenes, including semen on one of the victim’s underwear, was matched to Neil’s DNA profile. Neil was questioned about that when he testified in his own defense. “It’s not mine,” he insisted. “That’s a very unlucky coincidence for you,” said Crown Attorney Monica MacKenzie. “It’s not my DNA,” Neil responded. “It’s not me.” Fingerprints collected from the park in Oakville were also matched to the accused. The Crown noted 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 adults. MacKenzie said that, based on the fingerprint evidence alone, “there’s no explanation other than you were the perpetrator.” “This is what I’m hearing, but I’m completely disagreeing with it,” Neil testified. He repeatedly denied being the perpetrator of the crimes. Neil argued the witness’ description of the attacker did not match his own appearance in the 1990s, however he agreed other details were consistent, including a scar on the left side of his abdomen. His lawyer, Leo Adler, asked directly, “Did you attack any of these children?” “No, I did not,” Neil answered. What the jury didn’t hear During the second week of the trial, Adler asked the judge to declare a mistrial following evidence given by Margaret Henry, a biologist from the Centre of Forensic Sciences, who testified about the DNA evidence in the case. Henry testified that it was 20 quadrillion times more likely that Neil was the source of the DNA found at all three scenes than an unknown or unrelated person. The Crown prosecutor, Monica MacKenzie, asked if the items tested by the Centre of Forensic Sciences could be made available to the defence to conduct their own, independent testing of the DNA. Henry said it could. MacKenzie asked if the defence had made that request. Henry replied, “No.” Adler called the question improper, noting the accused must be judged on whether the Crown has proven its case, not whether the defense did enough to disprove it. “Trial fairness has been seriously compromised,” Adler told Justice Juganovic. Given the centrality of DNA evidence in the case, the defence argued it was grounds for a mistrial, something that’s considered “a remedy of last resort.” The judge ultimately dismissed Adler’s request for a mistrial but, during her closing address to jurors several weeks later, instructed them to disregard the questions posed about whether Neil and his defense requested exhibits from the Centre of Forensic Sciences for independent testing, noting Neil had no obligation to do so. There was also a separate incident, following Adler’s closing address and once jurors had left the courtroom. Both the Crown and judge noted a number of problems with what the defence said, specifically suggestions that were not part of the evidence presented at trial. Those included attacks on the police investigation, describing the evidence in the case as a “scandal” and suggesting errors had been made in other cases, so errors were made in this one. To address some of the potentially misleading comments, there were additions made to the Crown’s closing address and judge’s instructions. For instance, in her closing, Justice Juganovic noted Adler’s suggestion that police focused their investigation on Neil due to his urine fetish, given the fact the sexual assaults involved the victims being forced to drink urine. “This submission is not evidence and should not have been made,” the judge said in her charge, saying police only learned of Neil’s interest after his arrest. What’s next After the verdict was read out in court, the Crown made an application to revoke Neil’s bail. The judge granted that request after considering flight risk, public safety, confidence in the administration of justice, seriousness and circumstances of the offenses, as well as the prospect of a lengthy penitentiary sentence. All parties agreed to return to court on Nov. 23 to discuss possible dates for sentencing. More to come. If you, or someone you know, is struggling following a sexual assault or trauma, please reach out for crisis support: Person driving farm equipment caught going over 90 km/h in 40 km/h zone A farmer was worse for wear following an encounter with Wellington OPP where they were caught going 92 km/h in a posted 40 km/h zone. Police did not specify the identify of the driver or where in Wellington County the incident happened, but they did specify that the equipment was going more than double the maximum permitted speed for certain types of farm equipment driving on Ontario roadways. A media release did not confirm if the driver was charged. “Knowing and following the rules of the road helps keep everyone safe,” police said in a media release. Ontario student accused of working for Chinese official pleads not guilty in U.S. An Ontario student accused of working for someone he believed to be a Chinese government official has pleaded not guilty in a United States court to making false statements. Documents from a Michigan court show Weiheng Zeng entered his plea at his arraignment on Monday. Zeng, a Chinese citizen who was studying at the University of Waterloo, was arrested after allegedly taking photos of Toronto’s Pearson airport and Chicago’s O’Hare airport at the request of a mysterious Chinese contact he’d met on an online forum. In an affidavit filed earlier this year, an FBI agent said Zeng was first flagged by authorities in connection with an incident at O’Hare in April, when a man was seen taking photos, climbing a forklift and trying to open locked trailers at a FedEx facility. The affidavit said Zeng, who had driven into the United States about 10 days before the incident, was later linked to a minivan seen at the site. When Zeng tried to drive into the country with the same vehicle in August, he was pulled aside for several interviews, during which he allegedly gave conflicting statements, it said. The allegations have not yet been tested in court. Zeng initially said he took photos of planes during his trip to Chicago, but when border agents went through his phone, they found photos of aircraft and military planes as well as some of Zeng and others in tactical clothes holding firearms, the document said. He told the agents he took photos of model aircraft for a flight radar website and denied having any kind of military training, it said. In a second interview with border agents, Zeng said he took photos of planes landing at O’Hare from a public parking lot, but later said he took pictures from a forklift at a FedEx facility, the affidavit said. He also said he’d previously trespassed at a FedEx facility at Pearson airport but had been caught, the document said. Zeng first mentioned a Chinese contact in his third interview, and his story continued to change as he gave more details, the document said. At first, he said the contact reached out through a website for aviation spotters and asked him to take photos of specific planes for research, the affidavit said. Then he admitted that was a cover story provided by the contact, who actually wanted information on transportation logistics and wanted photos of particular locations around airports, the agent alleged. Zeng also said the contact sent him a photo of a badge and videos of scenes only security officials could access, and that he suspected the contact was connected to the Chinese Communist Party, the document said. His trial is set to begin in January, according to a schedule filed with the court. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2026. Faint hope hearing begins for Kitchener man who planned his wife’s ‘execution-style’ murder A jury has been chosen as Ronald Cyr’s faint hope hearing gets underway in Hamilton. Cyr was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of his wife, Nadia Gehl. She was fatally shot in February 2009 while walking to a bus stop near Ottawa Street and Fischer Hallman Road in Kitchener, in what a judge described as an “execution-style killing.” Cyr was found guilty of first-degree murder in April 2012. The Crown told the court Cyr arranged for his friend, Zdenek “Dennis” Zvolensky, to kill Gehl. Zvolensky then recruited Nashat Qahwash to help commit the crime. All three received an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Cyr has now applied for a reduction in his parole eligibility under the faint hope clause. It allows offenders who have already served 15 years of their sentence to get their parole eligibility reviewed by a jury. The faint hope clause was abolished by the Canadian government in 2011, but Cyr is still eligible given his offence took place before that date. Last year, a judge ruled a jury should be empaneled to hear Cyr’s request citing, among other reasons, Cyr had shown remorse and those close to him said he had worked hard to change his life and become a better person during his imprisonment. Cyr also said he had converted to Judaism in 2011 and regularly attends Shabbat. On Monday, 12 jurors and two alternates were chosen for the hearing at the John Sopinka courthouse in Hamilton. Jurors will be asked to consider Cyr’s character, conduct while serving his sentence, the nature of the offence, and information from the victim’s family about the impact of Gehl’s death. The proceedings are scheduled to resume on Tuesday. Questions raised about chemical spill from data centre in Cambridge, Ont. A data centre in Cambridge, Ont., is once again under scrutiny after a milky white substance was spotted in a nearby stormwater management pond. Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) said they were notified about an “odorous milky white substance” at 17 Vondrau Drive on July 19. The property belongs to Ascent’s TOR1 Data Centre. MECP also said the region’s drinking water system was not impacted by the incident. The Grand River Conservation Authority confirmed it had provided an estimate about how long it would take the substance to reach the City of Brantford’s drinking water intake at the city’s request. In July, Related Digital, the co-owner of Ascent, told CTV News the milky white substance was a bacterial bloom caused by “stagnant water, high temperatures and the breakdown of naturally occurring organic matter.” Now, months later, questions are being raised about what happened over the summer and Ontario NDP MPP Catherine Fife has released a statement calling for accountability. Fife’s statement Fife’s statement says a 5,000 litre chemical spill had been reported weeks before the bacterial bloom was spotted on July 19. “The fact that we’re only learning about this three months later is completely unacceptable,” Fife wrote. “Both the owners, and the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks knew that this had happened, and chose to force residents to file Freedom of Information requests about what was happening in their own backyard.” She also accused the provincial government of being “content to just take Related Digital at their word.” “That’s not good enough. We need a full, clear picture of how this happened, what the effects were, and what action was taken to ensure accountability and safety for Cambridge residents,” Fife wrote. Related Digital confirms spill Related Digital told CTV News a spill had happened on July 2, and it was reported to the Provincial Spills Action Centre and the Regional Spills Reporting Hotline. They said the substance was 75 per cent water and a 25 per cent concentration of propylene glycol. The chemical has many industrial uses, most commonly antifreeze. It can be also used to absorb extra water, as a solvent for food colours and flavours, or making artificial smoke or fog. Propylene glycol is colourless in appearance. Adam Yates, an aquatic ecologist at the University of Waterloo, said propylene glycol itself poses low toxicity risk in aquatic environments, but it can interact with microbes. “By the time it would get into the environment, it would not be harmful to humans, it would be too diluted,” Yates said, noting that at low concentrations, glycol can serve as a food source for bacterial growth. “Any time that large amounts of carbon get added to ecosystems, you have the opportunity for a bacterial growth explosion,” Yates explained. “To say what type of carbon was in the pond or in the river is really not possible. There’s lots of other sources of carbon that exist in the environment.” Ontario’s Ministry of Environment told CTV News the chemical was being used for the data centre’s onsite cooling system. “Licensed [qualified professionals] retained by ownership, under the supervision of the MECP, determined that the algae bloom that occurred in the pond was coincidental and unrelated to the earlier glycol spill,” a spokesperson for Related Digital told CTV News in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “This determination was supported by extensive, ministry-mandated, subsequent testing of the pond water and impacted soil. As we stated previously, we believe the algae bloom to have resulted from stagnant water, high temperatures, and the breakdown of naturally occurring organic matter that caused anaerobic conditions in the stormwater detention pond.” The company said the pond was fully drained and reopened, with approval from the Ministry of the Environment, on Oct. 23. The ministry said the discharged substance “was contained to the roof.” In an emailed statement on Wednesday, they confirmed, “The ministry separately responded to reports of odourous water at the site on July 20, 2026 and collected samples from the pond. Laboratory testing determined this incident was caused by a bacterial bloom with no other contaminants of concern, including glycol, identified.” The email concluded with the ministry “has not established any link between the two incidents.” Region of Waterloo responds In an emailed statement to CTV News Thursday, the Region of Waterloo also confirmed there were two separate incidents in July—an initial spill on private property that regional staff did not attend because no offsite impacts were noted, and the report of a white odorous material in the pond over two weeks later. “In both instances, we can confirm neither impacted the Region’s infrastructure or posed a risk to the drinking water system,” the statement read. The region added that its environmental enforcement staff have visited the site periodically over the past several months and stayed in contact with the MECP, which took the lead on overseeing the cleanup. Fife is calling for the testing results from the incident to be released to the public.
