How one man saved a woman he found bound, handcuffed, half-naked on a porch

WATCH ABOVE: A Toronto man is being hailed as a hero after he rescued a woman who had been held captive for days. Allison Vuchnich reports

TORONTO – Peter Hamilton saved a woman, allegedly kidnapped, and sexually assaulted for five days inside a Leslieville home on Sunday.

He’s being nominated for an award, but from his perspective, he just did what he thought he had to do.

“I couldn’t have done anything different,” he said during an interview Thursday. “There’s a woman who’s been kidnapped, on the porch, and there’s a person in the house, I cannot leave. Even to go and knock on somebody else’s door.”

He left his house, a short walk from where the woman was found, on Sunday morning. He had been walking with his dog Cocoa for a few minutes and had crossed the road to throw out a doggy-bag when he heard the woman – bound and half-naked – crying for help.

“It was a plea,” he said. “I knew that something needed to be taken care of… I saw that there was a woman that was on the porch, the door was partly ajar, she had managed to get herself out.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was a plea," he said. "I knew that something needed to be taken care of… I saw that there was a woman that was on the porch, the door was partly ajar, she had managed to get herself out."

The 27-year-old woman was handcuffed, her pants pulled down, with packing tape tied around her wrists and legs.  She told Hamilton the man had kidnapped her five days before.

Police said in a press release she met Rejean Hermel Perron, 43, near Sherbourne Street and Shuter Street on March 31. He forced her into his home with a gun and kept her there, sexually assaulting the woman multiple times.

She managed to get onto the porch Sunday morning while her kidnapper slept inside.

“There was nobody else around, I didn’t have a phone, and I couldn’t leave her,” Hamilton said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There was nobody else around, I didn't have a phone, and I couldn't leave her," Hamilton said.

He didn’t think he had enough time to run to a neighbour’s home for help, so he quickly got the handcuffs off, and tried to cut the tape with nail clippers.

“I’m now trying to do this as quickly as I can because there’s a guy in the house that could be potentially violent.”

The front door opened. Hamilton said he had prepared himself – as much as he could – for a violent situation. Fortunately, when the man saw Hamilton, he ran. Hamilton said he jumped off the porch and ran through the schoolyard directly across the street, turning twice to look back at Hamilton and the still-bound woman.

A few minutes later, Hamilton was able to get some people walking by to call 911, and was able to remove the woman’s restraints.

Police eventually charged Rejean Hermel Perron with four offences including sexual assault with a weapon, kidnapping, forcible confinement, and assault.

Hamilton is being nominated for a Community Member Award and has been dubbed a hero by media around the city.

“We didn’t really think too much of it, even at the time I didn’t think too much of it. I just said, a woman was in danger and I helped her out.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We didn't really think too much of it, even at the time I didn't think too much of it. I just said, a woman was in danger and I helped her out."

– With files from Crystal Goomansingh