A man charged in connection with a brutal sexual assault in Vancouver has previously served time for crimes in southwestern Ontario.
Caleb Heaton, 25, is accused of entering a Vancouver home through an unlocked door – while armed with a weapon – then tying up, sexually assaulting and cutting off the finger of the woman inside.
In 2012, Heaton was charged in connection with a knifepoint robbery at a Woodstock electronics store and a theft from a Canadian Tire in Kitchener.
He was sentenced to nine months in jail, and banned from possessing weapons for 10 years.
His family lives in Waterloo.
“He went into quite a depression when his father died when he was 16, so it’s kind of a downward spiral,” grandmother Joan Heaton told CTV News.
“He’s got severe schizophrenia, and if he’s not on his meds, he’s got a problem.”
Police say Heaton does not know the 39-year-old woman injured in the Vancouver incident.
She remains in hospital.
