Judge gives man 12 years for attacks on women

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This article was published 10/05/2023 (1194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man convicted of violent robberies that targeted female escort workers has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

“These were planned attacks that targeted vulnerable women,” King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne said Tuesday at a sentencing hearing for the 36-year-old offender.

A publication ban prohibits the naming of the man, as it might identify his victims.

The man was convicted after trial of three counts of robbery, three counts of choking to overcome resistance and one count of assault causing bodily harm in connection to three attacks over 16 days in January 2021. He arranged to meet two women in their hotel room and the third at her home after contacting them on a website used by sex trade workers.

The man’s sentence is comprised of three consecutive four-year sentences relating to each victim. Champagne rejected an argument by defence lawyers that the man’s sentences should be concurrent to each other as the offences were part of a spree.

“The three robberies committed by (the offender) are similar and took place over a relatively short period of time,” Champagne said. “However, I find that these were planned and targeted attacks of three different vulnerable woman and conclude they are separate and distinct crimes that call for consecutive sentences.”

Unlike other “soft targets” such as convenience store workers or taxi drivers, women in the sex trade industry work “in the shadows” and are often reluctant to report crimes against them for fear of being outed or exposed, the judge said.

“There is shame and stigma attached to the industry,” Champagne said. “In my view, this stigma places escorts at greater vulnerability than other soft targets… who are working with the public in the open and would not hesitate to call police if they were attacked.”

Court was told the offender grew up in an abusive home and at 18 was diagnosed with an untreatable brain aneurysm that could rupture from rough physical contact.

Champagne said he was satisfied the man’s medical condition was a factor in his choice of victims.

While a strong man, “he still had to be careful about selecting his targets,” Champagne said. “I conclude it was a deliberate and calculated choice to target vulnerable women working as escorts.”

One victim, who the offender attacked and robbed in her Tuxedo apartment, told court at a sentencing hearing last month she was evicted after rumours began circulating in the building about her line of work. She had to pay thousands of dollars in moving and assault-related medical expenses.

“It’s constantly in the back of my mind that he will come back for me and this time take my life,” the woman told court. “He is an extremely dangerous individual to women of any kind.”

Charges related to five additional alleged victims were either dismissed or stayed by the end of the man’s three-week trial earlier this year. The Crown has filed an appeal of the stays involving two of the alleged victims.

Court was told Winnipeg police began investigating reports that escort workers were being robbed, beginning in December 2020, and determined they had been committed by the same person.

There was no forensic evidence such as DNA or fingerprints that linked the man to the crimes, but two of his victims identified him in a photo lineup.

In addition, security video from outside the man’s home showed him driving away at times that corresponded to a man and car matching the same description that was captured on security video at the robbery scenes.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca