WARNING: This story contains details involving the sexual abuse of children. Jury deliberations have begun at the trial of Richard Neil, the man accused of sexually assaulting three children in Kitchener, Brampton and Oakville in the early 1990s. Neil, now 67-years-old, pleaded not guilty to 17 charges related to the three attacks, which were linked to each other by DNA in 1995. The children were all attacked in parks, tied to a tree with a yellow rope, threatened and sexually assaulted multiple times. Each was also forced to drink the perpetrator’s urine. None of the victims knew their attacker. Neil does not dispute that the horrific assaults happened, or that the crimes were committed by the same person, but he denied that he was the perpetrator. The police investigation involved multiple services and spanned many years. It was dubbed “Project Woodland,” with the perpetrator called the “Woodland Rapist.” Over the course of the investigation, the DNA of more than 300 people was compared to crime scene samples and determined not to match. A sample of Neil’s DNA was collected in 2024 after police obtained a warrant. Testing showed he could not be excluded as the source of the DNA found at the scenes. Neil was arrested and charged in 2024. His trial began at the Brampton courthouse at the beginning of October. The charges he faces include multiple counts of sexual assault, kidnapping, uttering threats, invitation to sexual touching and administering urine with intent to aggrieve. He’s also charged with forcible confinement in the Brampton assault, making child pornography related to allegations he made a recording during the Oakville assault, and administering a stupefying drug, as the Oakville victim testified she was forced to take cocaine and drink beer during her assault. The Crown argued that the evidence points to Neil, including the DNA found on items at all three scenes, the descriptions of the attacker given by victims and other witnesses, and Neil’s interest in urine. Neil, a divorced father of three, took the stand in his own defense, repeatedly denying he committed the offenses. Neil has admitted to having a urine drinking fetish, but said it is something that developed in 2012 and only something he practiced with consenting male adults. During her charge, Justice Rosemarie Juginovic reminded jurors they cannot find Neil guilty because they disapprove of this conduct or find it offensive, and that Neil is not on trial for an interest in urine drinking. The judge reminded the jury that in order to find him guilty, they must be convinced that Neil committed the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. It took the judge several hours to complete her charge on Thursday. Jurors left the courtroom to begin deliberating at 5:20 p.m.
