A B.C. man accused of sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl with cerebral palsy then fleeing the country decades ago is back on Canadian soil.
Mounties allege Raymond Douglas MacLeod attacked the underage victim while living in Prince George in 1974, when he was 32 years old. He was initially acquitted in the assault but disappeared after Crown prosecutors won an appeal for a new trial.
“I think it’s safe to say he was trying to elude police and elude capture,” RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass said.
After a years-long search effort involving Mounties, Interpol, and U.S. police, authorities finally tracked MacLeod to a trailer park in California, where he was allegedly using the social security number of a dead American man.
The suspect had somehow managed to fly under the radar despite being convicted of a series of crimes south of the border.
MacLeod, now 72, was arrested in October 2013, sparking a long extradition battle. He was finally sent back to Canada on Tuesday night and appeared in court Wednesday.
Speaking outside the courthouse, MacLeod’s lawyer denied allegations his client had been on the run.
“The important point is that he was acquitted. He was living under the delusion that he was home free, and he was told by his lawyer that if you don’t want further difficulties, more complexities, go somewhere else,” Gary Botting said.
The RCMP said MacLeod is facing three counts in connection with the Prince George assault, as they appeared in the Criminal Code of Canada at the time of the offenses: rape, indecent assault on a female, and assault causing bodily harm.
He’s also been charged with obstruction of justice.
MacLeod is scheduled to appear next in Prince George provincial court on April 2.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Scott Roberts
