Man accused of sexual assault on Whitefish Island no stranger to court

A Searchmont man accused of sexual assault following an investigation on Whitefish Island is certainly no stranger to the criminal justice system.

Court documents reviewed by SooToday reveal that Muhammet Kamacihan has a criminal record dating back to 2018 — one that includes assault, robbery and drug possession, among other convictions.

Kamacihan was arrested on Oct. 23 after the crime units for Sault Ste. Marie and East Algoma Ontario Provincial Police investigated a complaint of a sexual assault on Whitefish Island.

The 33-year-old man has been charged with one count of sexual assault and two counts of failing to comply with a probation order.

Kamacihan is currently being held for a bail hearing and remains in custody.

None of the allegations have been tested in court and the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty.

The man’s brushes with the law, however, don’t end there.

In December 2024, Kamacihan was arrested by police and charged with forcible entry, cocaine possession, failure to comply with a probation order and resisting a peace officer.

Kamacihan was sentenced to time served and placed on 12 months probation after being convicted of forcible entry and cocaine possession in April 2025.

Court documents show that Kamacihan had previously been charged by police in two separate incidents that occurred within the same calendar year.  

On April 29, 2022, members from the Sault Ste Marie OPP detachment responded to a traffic complaint of a possible impaired driver on a motorcycle that left a store in Heyden heading south on Highway 17 towards the Sault.

About half an hour later, members of Batchewana First Nation Police Service found the motorcycle parked at a local restaurant in the community of Batchewana First Nation. Kamacihan attempted to flee and was arrested.

Police say they searched his packsack and located a machete, a small amount of suspected crystal methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

Kamacihan would later be found guilty of flight from a peace officer, impaired driving and possession of a dangerous weapon.

He was sentenced to three days imprisonment after being credited for time served in pre-sentence custody.

Months later, Kamacihan found himself on the wrong side of the law yet again. 

Batchewana First Nation Police Service laid a number of charges against him in connection with a September 2022 incident in Searchmont where he was accused of threatening a delivery driver with a machete before robbing him.

Court records show that Kamacihan ended up taking a small amount of money from the delivery driver — as well as the SUV he was driving — before stealing cigarettes from the Goulais River Country Store.

The man then struck a vehicle while fleeing the store and proceeded to head northbound on Highway 17.

Police found the stolen vehicle abandoned on Mile 38 Road in the Batchawana Bay area. Kamacihan was eventually arrested by police after being tracked by the canine unit and members of the Emergency Response Team.

In July 2023, he was convicted of possessing a machete, uttering a threat to cause bodily harm, robbery, theft under $5,000 and assault with a weapon.

Kamacihan was sentenced to 154 days imprisonment after being credited for time served in pre-sentence custody.

He was also slapped with a weapons ban, placed on probation for three years and ordered to provide a DNA sample to the court.

But his rap sheet doesn’t end there.

In December 2018, Kamacihan was charged in connection with an incident where he allegedly used a flare gun in a careless manner and had prohibited ammunition — in this case, modified shotgun shells — in his possession.

He would eventually be found guilty of breaching a probation order that he had received a few months prior in a Calgary courtroom.

The order was imposed in July 2018, when Kamacihan pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant at 15 years old, according to a news article by the Calgary Herald.

Kamacihan, then 26 years old, was sentenced to time served after being detained in pre-sentence custody for three months.

He was also handed a two-year probation order, which ordered him to leave the province of Alberta and not come back for the duration of his probation.

“The sooner he drives back to Ontario, the better,” Crown prosecutor Joe Mercier told the judge at the time of Kamacihan’s sentencing.

“The purpose of the probation order is to ensure he stays away from her, stays out of Alberta and stays out of her life.”

Fast forward to today, and Kamacihan is once again in custody — facing another court case where he’s being accused of sexual assault.

His next court date is slated for Jan. 8.