Lundar man arrested on historical child sex assault charges

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This article was published 14/03/2022 (1344 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police have arrested a 65-year-old Lundar man for alleged sex crimes against children dating back decades.

The first alleged victim came forward to the Winnipeg Police Service child abuse unit in December, saying they had been sexually assaulted in the past. The unit then identified two additional people, who said they, too, had been sexually assaulted at various locations in the city from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Const. Rob Carver said told reporters Monday.

The accused also ran church group theatre productions in the southwest area of the city at the time, but Carver noted the man did not solely know the alleged victims through that program.

“So one of the reasons we’re doing this press conference is the connections are kind of multi-faceted. We believe that could be the case if there are additional victims,” Carver said.

“While we feel that his work within the theatre group may have been key, it’s not the only key connecting the survivors to the accused… We could have a survivor out there who had no knowledge or exposure to the theatre production.”

The alleged abuse occurred in different places, ranging “from residences to large, organized places to various (other) locations.”

The three victims included boys and girls, all of whom were around the age of 10 at the time. “Pre-teen, but not infants or tender years,” Carver said.

“I can tell you that when I speak to investigators in cases like this — not necessarily in this case, but in any case of (historical) sexual assaults and child abuse — that often there are more victims than have been identified by investigators,” Carver said.

“Could that be the case here? Absolutely, certainly, it could.”

However, he said, further testimony is not critical to the case now before the courts.

“If someone were to come forward and indicate that they had also been victimized, what we want to do is be able to offer some support, potentially some closure to victims. This case stands on its own,” he said.

Joseph Floyd Delaney was arrested Feb. 24.

He has been charged with three counts of sexual assault, two counts each of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching, and one count each of assault and gross indecency. The allegations have not been proven in court.

His next court date is May 31. The Free Press attempted to contact Delaney’s lawyer, but was unsuccessful.

A justice source told the Free Press that Delaney ran the theatre productions for Grant Memorial Baptist Church on Wilkes Avenue near Waverly Street. The church would not comment Monday.

Grant Memorial is a member of the Baptist General Conference of Canada, according to its website, and has more than 2,000 constituents.

Carver said historical sexual assault investigations are “more common” than most people might imagine.

“Over the last number of years, it’s become that victims have a sense of empowerment to be able to come forward, knowing that law enforcement is much more nimble, much more trained in terms of their ability to look at historical incidents. I think it’s becoming much more common for our investigators to have to go through cases like this,” Carver said.

Historical sexual assault investigations typically rely mostly on witness interviews, rather than forensic or digital evidence. Investigators are trained to determine the veracity of those statements, and whether charges can be laid and supported in a criminal case.

“That’s certainly the view here of investigators and of course, charges have to be approved by public prosecutions who are obviously in agreement here, given that we’ve laid nine charges,” Carver said.

Police ask anyone with information that can assist investigators to call 204-986-3296 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera