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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Man pleads guilty in home invasion
Terrorized family after mental-health assessment
A young man pleaded guilty Friday to a 2010 home invasion that put a Winnipeg family through a night of hell only weeks after he underwent a court-ordered mental-health assessment and while he was on bail.
Wearing a dark suit and shackles, the lanky young man with a bushy beard and hair was led into court and pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including aggravated assault, sexual assault with a pellet gun and a knife, unlawful confinement, uttering threats and failing to comply with bail conditions to be home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Police had originally charged the man, who was 18 at the time, with 25 offences.
His victims, a family of four including a mom and dad and a teenage son and daughter, were not in court Friday. Their identities have been protected by a publication ban.
The Free Press is not identifying their attacker, either, in order to publish details about his prior youth involvement with the justice system, which leads to questions about the type of supervision and treatment he received while free in the community and being assessed for his mental state.
The Free Press learned he was out on bail at the time of the home invasion following an arrest in April 2010 that raised concerns about his mental health. The man, who was just 17 at the time, was caught by police walking through the Exchange District carrying a knife and an energy drink. He was wearing a red bandana, tuque and sunglasses -- despite it being just past midnight.
Police charged him with carrying a concealed weapon and expressed concerns about his mental state in their formal report, advising a doctor had seen him prior to being released. His bail conditions included a nightly curfew of 10 p.m. and an order to reside at a home in Elmwood.
On Friday, his lawyer, Danny Gunn, asked him repeatedly if he understood the proceedings -- that there would not be a trial because he was pleading guilty to the 14 charges, to which he answered, "Yes."
Details of the charges were not read out in court but the Free Press reported on what led to them days after the home invasion happened.
At about 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday night in October 2010, he knocked on the door of a North Kildonan family and traumatized two teens and their parents who'd been sleeping. The son answered the door and was greeted with a gun held in his face. The invader pushed his way inside, where he saw the boy's older sister watching television. He demanded to know if anyone else was home. When informed the parents were asleep in the bedroom, he forced the kids upstairs. With the entire family awake, he forced the mother to duct-tape her husband and two children while pointing the weapon at all of them.
He pushed the father down a flight of stairs, loosening the duct tape. He brought the father back to the top of the stairs, re-taped him and then shoved him a second time. His head hit a wall so hard, it made a hole.
The invader had a knife and began stabbing the father. That's when the son was able to grab a metal pipe and began hitting the invader over the head. He was quickly joined by his father who broke out of the duct tape. The mother and daughter ran out the front door, screaming for help. Police were called just after midnight.
The family was taken for treatment, with the father hospitalized in stable condition suffering the most serious physical injuries. Police seized the firearm, which turned out to be a pellet gun. The invader, who suffered extensive injuries, was arrested and taken to hospital.
Sources at the time said the invader made a series of bizarre comments to police following his arrest, which included claiming he had stopped taking anti-psychotic medications and was acting on orders from Satan and Hitler to attack the innocent family. His sanity wasn't in question Friday in court.
He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 18 and is expected to take at least two days.
-- with files from Mike McIntyre
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 28, 2012 A5
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