Bryan Hayward was scheduled for a virtual bail hearing today in Hamilton court. The 36-year-old is charged with sexual assault; assault with a weapon; administering a noxious substance; distribution of intimate images and voyeurism, along with several other charges.

The hearing was rescheduled to this Friday.

Hayward, who is at the centre of an ongoing W5 investigation relating to men who sexually abuse their wives and intimate partners, is accused of drugging and raping a woman. He was arrested outside a Tim Horton’s drive thru by Hamilton Police on May 16.

The above charges relate to one woman who Hayward allegedly abused. But a W5 investigation has revealed that Hayward is connected to a massive online global network of men who allegedly secretly drug their wives and intimate partners, then share the videos of their sexual assaults.

This includes a man from Moncton, N.B. In November 2024, a 37-year-old man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for crimes which included drugging, raping and filming two ex-girlfriends.

In an exclusive interview with CTV’s W5, one of the man’s ex-girlfriends, whose name we are changing to Melanie due to a publication ban, said she was unaware any abuse was even taking place.

“I’m still baffled by that even being a reality, of someone being able to do that to your partner and then wake up the next day and give them a kiss and be like ‘good morning’ and ‘have a good day,’” she said. “How can someone do that?”

CTV News is also required to conceal the name of her rapist, due to a court ordered ban on his identity to protect another one of his victims, his now ex-wife.

W5 also interviewed his other girlfriend, who we are calling Julie.

“This is the scariest part and that’s a common point between all victims, we had no idea… We figure he must have drugged us late at night and then we just woke up in the morning.”

This network is not operating in the shadows or on the dark web. Melanie’s rapist was trading and selling videos of her abuse on public porn sites for years.

Though he is behind bars at the Dorchester Prison in N.B., his account is still online on at least one porn site.

As part of W5’s ongoing investigation, Senior Investigative Correspondent Avery Haines infiltrated this global network over the period of months, posing online as a man who wanted to abuse his wife. During the investigation, Haines searched through the New Brunswick man’s online friends list and discovered another man whose profile pic was a Canadian flag. This user has almost a dozen videos uploaded of women who appear to be unconscious while he has sex with them.

W5’s investigation revealed that the account with the Canada flag belongs to Bryan Hayward, the man arrested in Hamilton. W5 alerted Hamilton police of the potential crimes, resulting in an investigation being launched. Police raided Hayward’s home last Friday, seizing his electronic devices, as well as drugs used to allegedly incapacitate his victims.

According to a Hamilton police press release, Hayward, who has an amputation to his left hand, may have contacted his victims through online dating sites.

Hamilton Police Detective Curtis Patton is urging anyone who has had any type of relationship or interaction with Hayward to contact Hamilton Police.

“These victims may not even be aware that they are in fact victims,” Patton said. “Anybody whose had any type of interaction with Bryan Hayward whether they are dating or have had contact come forward because any information might be useful for the investigation.”

The allegations against Hayward bear a striking resemblance to crimes committed against Gisele Pelicot in Avignon, France.

Pelicot’s husband, Dominique, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last December for repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for nearly a decade. Over the course of that time, he also invited dozens of other men into their home to rape her while she was unconscious. Fifty other men were found guilty of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault.

The Pelicot case was reported as an anomaly, but the ongoing W5 investigation shows this type of abuse being committed by a network of men spanning the globe who share each other’s content and teach one another where to purchase knockout drugs, how to make the drugs themselves and how to get away with rape.