High-risk offender arrested after police respond to 2 violent assaults against women

A man with a history of sexual violence is in trouble with the law again.

Halifax Regional Police arrested Gamon Jay Leacock, 49, in the central part of the city on Monday after responding to reports about two violent incidents in the area.

In a news release, police said they were responding to a robbery just after 3 p.m. in the area of Hunter and Cunard streets.

They said a man approached a woman in her car on South Street and asked her to drive him to the Cunard Street area.

The man then assaulted and robbed her, saying he had a firearm, according to the release. The woman then pulled over and exited the vehicle.

The man fled the area on foot, police said.

Second incident

A short time later, police said a man entered a residence on Clifton Street and confronted two women there. The man produced a brick and a broken bottle and confined them to a bedroom, they said.

The man threatened, physically assaulted and sexually assaulted the women, police said.

The women fought the suspect and escaped, the release said, and they were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Police said they arrested Leacock in a backyard on Hunter Street at 3:30 p.m., less than half an hour after the first call.

He faces charges including aggravated sexual assault, assault and unlawful confinement.

Police warned public in fall

Leacock was released into the Halifax area in October.

At that time, police issued a warning that he was a high risk to reoffend. He had just completed a 14-year sentence for a violent sexual assault in Montreal that occurred in 2009.

Earlier this month, Leacock was charged for allegedly making death threats against a woman in Dartmouth.

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