Serial rapist evaded capture for 40 years; Calgary court hears victims' accounts

A Calgary court heard the accounts of three victims of a serial rapist who evaded capture for four decades, as Richard Hubert Jones, 72, faced sentencing Friday following what prosecutors describe as three violent sexual assaults in 1984 and 1985.

Jones admitted his DNA matched the attacker's DNA collected from victims' bodies and homes. The odds of the perpetrator being someone other than Jones are one in hundreds of trillions or more, prosecutors said.

The first attack occurred February 20, 1984, in the Thorncliffe community. The victim, identified as T.N., was 13 years old and babysitting her five-year-old brother when an intruder entered the home. The attacker led the child to a bedroom, raped T.N., and placed a pillow over her face. "He said he didn't want to see that," T.N. recalled of the attacker's words to police. Threatened with a knife and told the attacker would kill her if she told anyone, T.N. grabbed her brother and ran to a neighbour's home, where she collapsed in the neighbour's arms.

A second assault occurred one month later, nine kilometres from the first attack location. One victim died before charges were laid against Jones in May 2023. Two surviving victims had already testified at a preliminary inquiry in 2024.

Prosecutor Vicki Faulkner read an agreed statement of facts detailing each victim's account. Defence lawyer Julie Grivel called no evidence and made no argument against conviction. Justice Christopher Simard will deliver his decision at a later date. A publication ban protects the victims' identities.