Second man charged in teen’s abduction, sexual assault

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A second man has been charged after a teenage girl was abducted at knifepoint in St. James last fall and repeatedly sexually assaulted over several hours.

Shawn Ryan Leslie, 39, was arrested Wednesday and charged with sexual assault in the Sept. 24 incident, the Winnipeg Police Service said Thursday.

The first suspect — the man accused of abducting the girl — was arrested Sept. 28.

Cory Lee Whalen, 40, was charged with three counts of sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault, assault with a weapon, kidnapping, administering a noxious thing, forcible confinement and failing to comply with a probation order, among other offences.

Sex crimes investigators identified the second suspect in December after further investigating the brutal crimes, including examining forensic and other evidence that was not immediately available after the victim escaped, police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said Thursday.

“Evidence can be gathered in a variety of ways,” the spokesman said. “Components of a sexual assault investigation can take weeks and even months.”

He said that can include examining evidence from a scene and sending off items for laboratory analysis.

“This information was brought forward through a lengthy forensic investigation,” said Michalyshen. “It took a bit of time for us to wait for those results.”

Police did not believe the suspect posed a risk to others while sex crimes investigators sought to arrest him, Michalyshen said.

“If we had information, that there was a danger to the public, by all means we would (have) put further notifications out,” he said. “Not every investigation warrants that.”

Leslie, who has not yet appeared in court on the sex assault charge, was convicted of assaulting a peace officer in 2018, his most recent conviction, court records show.

His record, which dates to 2008, also includes convictions for court order breaches, mischief to property over $5,000, obstruction or resisting a peace officer and an assault.

In the assault, which was committed in November 2011, he was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation, plus time in custody, and ordered to provide a DNA sample to law enforcement.

Police were sent to the Spence neighbourhood, in central Winnipeg, about the abduction late in the evening on Sept. 25.

The victim told police she was walking along the 3000 block of Portage Avenue, near Sturgeon Road, the previous evening when a man she didn’t know approached her and started talking to her.

He eventually pulled out a knife and forced her into his nearby vehicle, Michalyshen said in the fall.

The victim was taken to an apartment in central Winnipeg and sexually assaulted over the course of nearly 24 hours. Police said the man who abducted the teen drugged her and assaulted her physically.

After many hours of abuse, the victim found and took an unspecified “clear opportunity” to escape and ran into the street, Michalyshen said, adding she saw two pedestrians and asked to use a cellphone to call police.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca