Convicted sex offender charged after woman assaulted in Stanley Park washroom
Hartley Ronald Duckhorn, 35, pleaded guilty to a similar 2020 sex assault and robbery in Surrey
WARNING: This story includes details of sexual assault and may affect readers who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who has.
Vancouver police say a man has been arrested and charged with multiple offences after a woman was attacked, robbed and sexually assaulted by a stranger in a Stanley Park bathroom on Monday.
Ronald Hartley Duckhorn, 35, is facing one count each of assault by choking, sexual assault with a weapon, robbery and unlawful confinement.
Duckhorn pleaded guilty to similar offences in Surrey in 2022 in relation to an attack of a woman in 2020 near the King George SkyTrain Station.
On Monday, Vancouver police were alerted to an attack in a women's changing room near the Second Beach pool in Stanley Park after a witness saw what they described to police as a suspicious man entering the washroom around 11 a.m.
Officers say they found a woman in her 40s who had been robbed and violently assaulted. She was later treated in hospital.
In the Surrey incident, Duckhorn was convicted of sexual assault with a weapon, unlawful confinement and robbery.
According to police reports at the time, the victim was walking under the SkyTrain line toward Fraser Highway when she was allegedly approached by a man with a weapon and robbed of her belongings, before being pulled into the bushes and sexually assaulted.
According to the B.C. Prosecution Service, Duckhorn was handed a global sentence of five and a half years in prison, which included a credit of three years, three months and 10 days for time served and an additional two years, two months and 20 days in prison. He was also ordered to provide a DNA sample and put on the national sex offender registry.
The latest charges against Duckhorn have not been proven in court. His next scheduled appearance is May 23 in Vancouver provincial court.
He remains in custody pending a bail hearing.
According to online court records, Duckhorn has previous criminal convictions for unrelated robbery and break and enter offences.
If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database.
With files from Karin Larsen