A man has been arrested by police investigating a series of alleged sexual assaults on men in central Hamilton in recent weeks. Detective Senior Sergeant Karl Thornton of the Hamilton CIB said the man was arrested after a property in the CBD was searched about 7pm on Tuesday. "Our investigation has been titled Operation Triangle and centres around the sexual assault of a 22-year-old man on Mill St on 24 October and the abduction and assault of two men picked up when hitch-hiking in Claudelands early Friday morning. "At this point we believe the offender may have been involved in a number of other incidents and we understand the reluctance on the part of victims to come forward. Police acknowledge that any victim of sexual assault is traumatised by their ordeal but we implore anyone else who may have been a victim of this offender to come forward." Thornton said investigators had faced challenges in verifying the number of incidents that have occurred due to victims being "understandably reluctant" in coming forward. "So we are extremely grateful to those people who have shown a lot of courage and laid complaints that have allowed us to progress the investigation through to making an arrest." A33-year-old Hamilton man has been charged with two counts of abduction, two counts of stupefying a person to carry out a crime, four counts of sexual violation and one charge of indecent assault. Anyone one who believes they may have been a victim of this man or has information on someone they believe was is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Ricky Thompson on the Operation Triangle phone number 0272207855.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 10th November 2010 - 7:51pm