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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Bites of crime

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 02/12/2009 6:28 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Some of the things going recently on that haven’t hit the pages of the newspaper:

Tuesday’s bizarre story about a Winnipeg mom charged in connection to a series of sex-assaults of young girls she was in charge of watching at a sleepover last August netted me this letter from the woman’s mother, who is very upset about the allegations being made against her daughter:

"I am the mother of this women and I am appalled at this story.

I know in my heart that my daughter would never do such a thing. In fact whenever I have talked to her about it she has stated that it’s so gross.

The girls in question she has known since birth. The parents of these girls she has known for over thirty years. My daughter lived with the parents while the mother was pregnant with the first child. The father lived with us when he was younger. The girls have always called her Aunty. My daughter did everything for those girls, from babysitting, having them for sleepovers, doing their hair, dressing them up for Halloween and even listened to them when they were upset or worried. She loved those girls like they were her own.

Whenever I talked to someone about this they would say that there is no way they could see my daughter do anything like that. One friend in particular went home and told his wife what had happened and she turned around and accused her husband of lying. She had to phone my daughter to find out that her husband was telling the truth, that's how shocked she was. Another friend said that she can't see her doing anything like that because ‘your daughter has a heart of gold. She is too much of a kind and helpful person to do anything like that.’

And the list of non-believers that my daughter did such a thing goes on.

I was there as my daughter's own son told her about what these girls had been saying. I was like my daughter where I just about fell off my chair as well. I was in shock that these girls would even say such a thing against someone that loved them so much and would do anything for them.

Whatever happened to being innocent until proven guilty? My daughter is innocent."

Defence lawyer Randy Janis has been hired to represent the woman, who was very upfront with me about the allegations when I spoke to her Monday. We’ll see how this one plays out.

More on Muzychka:

It was a bizarre experience for me to suddenly have my work be thrust into the centre of a sentencing hearing for Jonathon Muzychka Tuesday.

Muzychka’s the accused murderer who brazenly and dramatically escaped from Headingley jail last October, and spoke to me over the phone a few weeks ago after he was returned there.

He was in court Tuesday to be sentenced for escaping lawful custody. But, instead of the lawyers relying on police or other ‘official’ evidence to fill in the facts of how Muzychka escaped, they chose instead to enter the exclusive interview and article from the Free Press as evidence of how he got away.

I found out that the Crown was nearly ready to subpoena me to get the notes and audio I made during the interview.

Now, I’m well aware that people read the newspaper, and it’s not uncommon for articles to be entered into evidence at court for background purposes. But that being said, I’m not an agent of the Crown nor a police officer, so it was kind of cheap – and dare I say kind of lazy – to do things this way.

Still, the judge accepted the proposal, and it wasn’t contested by Muzychka’s new lawyer, Greg Brodsky, so that’s the way it went.

In our conversation, Muzychka was forthcoming about the escape, and even admitted he would do it again if he was offered the chance. That’s not to say, however, that he’s sitting at HCC plotting his next move. While he didn’t dispute what was written in the article, I could sense he was nonplussed at having his words come back to him that way.

One thing’s for sure: the 31-year-old’s a straight shooter. He didn’t mince words with Judge Catherine Carlson when he told her, in essence, that she shouldn’t be shocked that he escaped or would give such actions serious thoughts.

Loosely paraphrased, he told her that he’s in jail, a convict, and naturally wants out. If a door gets left open, he’s gonna go through it. "I made a decision, I knew what I was doing," he told her.

In an as-yet-unpublished excerpt from my chat with Muzychka, he admitted that he had been thinking about what he was going to the judge at sentencing for some time. Here’s what he told me his plan might be then, though.

"I’ve been thinking, you know, the judge always asks if there’s anything you want to say, and every time I’ve tried to be repentant and say something, he’s come up with, y’know, rambling on about some esoteric crap about this and that. I was thinking that I should say something witty, like I have no regrets, and this and that, but I’ve decided now I’m just not going to say anything. Honestly, I don’t have any regrets about what I did. And I would do it again in a second. I condensed a lot of years of excitement into whatever it was – the two or three weeks that I was out. I got to sit and look at the mountains, drink expensive cognac. I didn’t even smoke, I took up smoking and I had a good time."

Looks like the plan changed – If I have time, I’ll revisit the tape of the proceedings and put up what he said Tuesday, which was fascinating.

REHASHING REHASHING

A Winnipeg husband and wife, along with a youth have been caught up in a sweep by Winnipeg commercial crime investigators and their probe into a prolonged "rehashing" scam that the trio were allegedly conducting.

Essentially, police are accusing 42-year-old Kathleen Phills-Seon, 57-year-old Dean Lawford Seon and a youth of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud between Jan. 1, 2006 and March 13, 2008.

Police said Tuesday that the trio, on ten different occasions, stole items from various stores – electronics, furniture and clothing establishments were frequent targets – only to come back later and try and return the items for cash.

While police said that the items were, in most cases, of small value, "it did add up quickly."

Phills-Seon is charged with fraud over $5,000 and a number of fraud under $5,000 charges.

The woman and her husband co-accused are also facing 10 counts of fraud and conspiring to commit fraud.

The youth’s charges were not listed on court records, but confirmed by police.

ARSON

A 25-year-old woman was charged Tuesday with three counts of arson in connection to a weekend domestic dispute where she allegedly broke into and tried to burn down her partner’s home.

The fire happened on Boyd Avenue Saturday.

Police wouldn’t discuss details because it’s a domestic-related incident.

The woman is charged with house-break and enter and commit arson, arson with a disregard for life and arson to property.

MORE VIOLENCE, or, THAT’S WHAT PALS ARE FOR

A fight outside the Northern Hotel on Main Street recently sent two men to hospital and a suspect to the remand centre.

Last Friday, shortly before midnight, Joseph Laquette, 24, is alleged to have gotten into a heated argument with a 31-year-man for some unknown reason.

Police said that Laquette whipped out some kind of stick and began beating the man with it. When another man intervened in an effort to stop the violence, he too was beaten.

It could have been worse, though – police allegedly found a large kitchen knife on Laquette when they arrested him.

He’s been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and court-order breaches.

He’s in custody at the Remand Centre.

james.turner@freepress.mb.ca

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