Menu

Topics

Connect

Comments

Comments closed.

Due to the sensitive and/or legal subject matter of some of the content on globalnews.ca, we reserve the ability to disable comments from time to time.

Please see our Commenting Policy for more.

Delay in trial for man accused of sex assault, kidnapping in Calgary

A man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting five women was back in court for a bail hearing. Richard Mantha is facing numerous charges and while his lawyer is arguing for his release prosecutors want him to stay in custody until his trial. Elissa Carpenter reports. – Jan 15, 2024

A French-language trial for a man accused of sexually assaulting seven women was delayed Monday for an undetermined period of time.

Story continues below advertisement

Richard Robert Mantha, 59, faces numerous charges that include kidnapping, threats causing bodily harm, sexual assault with a weapon and administering a noxious substance.

Mantha, who has ties to Quebec, was denied bail last summer and has been in custody since he was arrested last April.

His trial, which is to be held completely in French, was set to begin Monday and run until Feb. 9.

Story continues below advertisement

Defence lawyer Kim Arial said she will be making a severance application to split the case into seven separate trials, although she had not yet filed that application with the court.

Crown prosecutor Dominique Mathurin said she would need time to review the application once it is filed.

Justice Judith Shrier said in both French and English that the delay was “very disappointing,” but she agreed to adjourn court until Wednesday.

At that time, the court could either hear the application or set a date to determine when it could be heard.

Police have said the women allege they were approached by a man, then drugged and taken to another location, where they were physically and sexually assaulted.

Additional charges were laid after Mantha was arrested as more complainants came forward. He now faces about 20 charges related to the seven women.

Story continues below advertisement

A police spokeswoman said last week one of the women has since died in an unrelated incident but that the Crown still plans to proceed to trial on those charges.

Advertisement

You are viewing an Accelerated Mobile Webpage.

View Original Article