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CALGARY — A bail hearing for a man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting women in Calgary has been adjourned until next month.

Richard Robert Mantha, who is 59, faces numerous charges involving five women that include kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault causing bodily harm and administering a noxious substance.

Police have said the women allege they were approached by a man, then drugged and taken to another location, where they were physically and sexually assaulted. 

Mantha was charged after officers cordoned off a property east of Calgary in April and brought in cadaver dogs, but police said at the time that no bodies were found. 

A bail hearing scheduled for Friday was adjourned due to what Mantha's lawyer described as some evidentiary issues.

The new hearing has been rescheduled for June 7.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2023.

The Canadian Press