Update on July 10: Police say Oshane Leach, 20, of Toronto, was charged on Monday evening with three counts of sexual assault, two counts of criminal harassment, and two counts of assault. Police say there may be more victims.
York University has boosted security after three women say they were sexually assaulted last week outside Vari Hall, the campus student centre.
The first victim, aged 33, says she was assaulted after getting off a bus by man who engaged her in conversation. It happened on July 5 at 3:30 p.m. The second victim, 21, said she was assaulted at the same time apparently by the same man. She says a second man was with the perpetrator. The third victim says she was followed after leaving Vari Hall and assaulted at 3 p.m. on July 6.
The university’s deputy spokesperson Janice Walls told 680 News that the university stepped up patrols over the weekend and posted security bulletins across campus. Some students told The Toronto Star that they believe the school should have done more to spread the news online.
The suspect is described as black, six feet to six-feet-three-inches tall and 155 to 175 pounds with a skinny build, thin face, scruffy beard and a short black Afro hairstyle. The second man is described as black, five-feet-seven-inches to five-feet-nine-inches tall and clean-shaven with a stocky build.
York increased the number of security cameras and improved lighting last year after a number of high-profile sexual assaults on and near campus. But it wasn’t the end of the story. Earlier this year three women reported peeping toms ogling them inside washrooms on campus.
York isn’t the only university to deal with sex crimes. Ryerson University in downtown Toronto warned women in January after an assault near campus. The University of Windsor warned students in November after a women was followed by a man and another woman saw a man peering through her window. Two sexual assaults were reported at the University of Saskatchewan earlier this year, including a rape. A 22-year-old was arrested in May in Saskatoon for sexual assault.