WARNING: This article includes graphic details of sexual assaults and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
A Hamilton man has pleaded guilty to drugging and sexually assaulting seven women, in a case that involved him recording and posting his actions online.
Bryan Hayward, 37, was in the Ontario Court of Justice before Justice Michael Wendl on June 11. The victims’ identities are protected under a standard publication ban.
In an agreed statement of facts, he admitted to assaulting the women as far back as 2018. He also admitted to attempting to calling one of the women while he was in jail in 2025, contrary to a court order.
In May 2025, Hamilton police arrested and charged Hayward in connection with multiple alleged assaults following a W5 investigation into a network of men who secretly drugged and videotaped their intimate partners.
According to the agreed facts read out in court, Hayward met the women in school, his community, and on various dating apps and websites.
In the case of one woman, the agreed facts said, it was “clear” Hayward had drugged her on a number of occasions, and sexually assaulted “her unconscious body in various ways and with a number of various items.”
The court heard he would repeatedly drug one woman he lived with by placing a cloth over her mouth, despite her telling him to stop.
When he lived in an apartment on King William Street, Hayward used a homemade pulley system he installed to repeatedly bind and position one woman in various ways, including to assault her with sex toys and household objects.
According to the agreed facts, the women were obviously unconscious or sleeping, sometimes snoring, in many of Hayward’s videos. In some of them, the statement said, the women could be heard expressing pain, asking him to stop or telling him no.
“‘Don’t worry, you’re not going to remember this,'” he could be heard responding in one instance, the statement said.
In another video, a woman struggles and cries to resist Hayward until he covers her mouth with a cloth and she passes out or falls asleep. He then continues to have sex with her.
Hayward did not use a condom in the videos.
Under a username referencing a date-rape drug, Hayward posted multiple videos of his crimes on the website Motherless, court heard.
He paid $10 per month for a premium membership and the 22 uploads on his account were viewed about 144,000 times.
They were titled and tagged in ways that referenced various drugs used to sedate people and a “ragdoll” fetish.
Court heard Hayward told someone he had a fantasy to drug and rape someone. He also texted someone about keeping chloroform in his closet.
One of the women Hayward assaulted went to the hospital in 2024, court heard, because her employer noticed she appeared intoxicated the next day. She told hospital staff that her boyfriend, Hayward, had said he gave her cold medicine.
Hospital staff recorded she had sedatives in her system and didn’t take them willingly, according to the agreed facts.
In a separate instance, police found a woman Hayward assaulted who was intoxicated outside his downtown apartment. She said he drugged her and showed the officers photos of straps on her bed. He said she was intoxicated, denied the straps existed and wouldn’t let them inside his apartment.
“Due to her heavily intoxicated state [and] their inability to move the investigation forward in any meaningful way at the time, the police accepted the sober word of Mr. Hayward that night and no further investigation could proceed at that time,” the agreed facts said.
An hour-long compilation of Hayward’s videos was played in court. Only the audio was streamed for people watching online.
Lawyers said victims were informed in advance and some planned to leave while the videos played. The judge said that was understandable, adding, “I’d rather not watch it myself but I have to.”
Wendl said only he and Hayward were required to watch the videos and others working in the courtroom could look away.
As the videos were played, the judge also closed the court to people not immediately associated with Hayward or his victims.
2nd Hamilton man charged in ‘drug-facilitated’ sexual assault investigation, police say
Court heard Hayward will go to trial beginning Sept. 1 in Hamilton on other charges. It’s scheduled for 17 days.
He’s due back in court June 23 for separate charges related to a co-accused.
In May, police charged Gilles Richard, 43, of Hamilton with crimes including gang sexual assault and administering an overpowering drug, alleging he was working with Hayward. They also laid new charges against Hayward. Court records show Richard is due in court this Friday.
Hayward also faces charges in Alberta. In November, Calgary police charged him with sexual assault in a case dating back to 2015. Records show he’s set for court in November.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
