Toronto man sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for violent sexual assaults
A Toronto man was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges stemming from two violent sexual assaults dating back to 2013 and 2014, York police say.
On Monday, Jaehyun "David" Cho, 33, pleaded guilty to sexual assault with a weapon and sexual assault causing bodily harm, as well as to a charge called disguise with intent, police said in a news release.
Cho was arrested in March last year. He initially faced 13 counts of multiple charges, including two counts of kidnapping.
The first attack happened at around midnight on Sept. 27, 2013, in Mississauga.
The 47-year-old victim was getting off a transit bus in the area of South Service Road and Crestview Avenue when a man brandished a weapon, pulled her into a dark area and sexually assaulted her, police said. Investigators previously said the man was wearing a mask at the time.
The second incident, which happened in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2014, involved similar circumstances.
A 17-year-old girl was attacked after getting off a bus near Yonge Street and Canyon Hill Avenue in Richmond Hill. The assailant, armed with a knife, approached her and demanded money. He then dragged the victim about 50 metres into a field and sexually assaulted her, according to police.
The Centre for Forensic Sciences was able to connect the two assaults via DNA collected at both crime scenes but investigators were unable to identify a suspect. Then in the fall of 2021, the centre notified police of a forensic link from an unrelated case that ultimately led them to name Cho as their suspect, the news release said.
