UPDATED: Four charged in Langley kidnapping case

Four people have been charged after a Langley woman was allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted twice in the space of a week last year.

What Langley RCMP Cpl. Holly Marks called “a chain of related offences” began on May 17.

On that date, a woman told police she had been sexually assaulted and confined overnight. She had managed to escape from where she had been held in the Brookswood/South Langley area, and identified her attacker, who was arrested.

He was released, charged, and ordered to have no contact with the victim, Marks said.

Police allege that on May 25, just a week later, the same woman was reported missing. Two days later, police found the site where she was being held and freed her. She had been held captive in various locations in Langley and Surrey during her captivity, Marks said.

“The victim showed obvious signs of a physical beating and stated she had been sexually assaulted a second time,” said Marks.

A number of people were involved in kidnapping her and in her confinement, the woman told police, and she said the same man who had attacked her before was the perpetrator of this sexual assault as well.

The investigation over the next several months was complex, Marks said, and such investigations can take a toll on the victim and witnesses. Marks said investigators worked and continue to work with the victim to ensure her safety.

William Bassett Jr., 39, was charged on Dec. 4 with kidnapping, sexual assault, and assault. He is already being held in custody on unrelated kidnapping charges laid after an investigation by Surrey RCMP, who allege he took another person and held that victim for some time.

Also charged in the second Langley kidnapping were Andreas Jacobus Macrea Bronk, 26, Charlene Mae Wald, 43, and Alisha Diane Wald, 21. All three are charged with kidnapping.

Provincial court records show that Bassett was charged in Surrey kidnapping, unlawful confinement, and attempting to obstruct justice for a Sept. 21 incident. Bassett made his first appearance on those charges on Oct. 2.

According to Cpl. Bert Paquette of the Surrey RCMP, a 42-year-old Langley man, of no fixed address, told the police that he had been kidnapped and held. He was released by his captors with  minor injuries, and Bassett was arrested the day after the victim came forward.

“We believe Mr. Bassett was interfering with another court case,” Paquette said. “The victim was a potential witness in another court case.”

Bassett is also still facing charges related to the first attack on the Langley woman.

Bronk was already in custody when he was charged. He was charged in a violent home invasion in Langley City in September. Bronk and three others, including a Dustyn Wald, were all charged with break and enter and assault with a weapon, after they allegedly forced their way into an apartment. The victim was forced to sit in a chair, hit several times, and held at knifepoint while his apartment was rifled and jewelry and electronics taken.

Charlene and Alisha Wald have since been released on bail.

The accused are next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 23.

Police are releasing little information about why they believe the Langley woman was persecuted.

“These types of investigations are critical to address and get before the courts,” said Supt. Murray Power, head of the Langley RCMP detachment. “The actions alleged in these charges are an affront to the fabric of our societal standards.”

Power said there was an excellent policing effort put forward in the investigation of the attack and kidnapping.