Police announce charges for women accused in abduction

Winnipeg police have charged two women with abducting a two-year-old boy, who was rescued when a witness recognized the victim and suspects from an Amber Alert.

Police said the boy’s mother was assaulted with a weapon and the child was abducted during a dispute at a home in the first 100 block of Chesterfield Avenue, in St. Vital, at about 10 a.m. Friday.

The Amber Alert was sent to cellphones across Manitoba, broadcast on TV and radio, and shared widely on social media when it was issued at about 1 p.m.

Amber Alerts are sent when a child is believed to have been abducted and is at risk of serious harm.

A witness, who was aware of the emergency notification, recognized the boy and the suspects after the trio got out of a taxi near McPhillips Street and Logan Avenue, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Sunday.

The female witness took the boy from the suspects, brought him to a vehicle and waited for officers to arrive.

Police had encouraged the public to call 911 and not approach the suspects.

“They were definitely helpful in securing the child at the scene,” police spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer said of the witness. “Obviously, we don’t recommend that passersby become involved because there is the possibility that the suspect is armed. In this case, it worked out favourably and the child was kept safe until police arrived.”

Police arrested two suspects at 1:35 p.m. at a strip mall on the 300 block of McPhillips Street. The child was not injured but was taken to hospital for an assessment.

The boy’s mother was treated at the Chesterfield Avenue scene by Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service members.

Caitlin Cassandra Monkman, 30, and Kineisha Rose Jawbone, 25, face numerous charges, including abduction of a person under 14 years of age, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon.

Monkman was charged with failing to comply with a probation order. Jawbone is accused of violating a conditional sentence order. She is also charged with methamphetamine possession, after police said they found a “personal amount” of the drug following her arrest.

Both were held in custody.

Spencer described the relationship between boy’s mother and the suspects as “at best acquaintances.” It was not a family dispute, he said.

Investigators were trying to determine the reason for the dispute that led to the assault and the abduction.

Monkman and Jawbone were both known to police.

A judge banned Monkman from possessing weapons for 10 years in November, when she pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with a weapon and other offences. Her sentence included credit for time served in pre-sentencing custody.

Monkman returned to court Feb. 4, when she pleaded guilty to assault and failing to comply with a release order. She was sentenced to time served in pre-sentencing custody (30 days, including a credit of 1.5 days to one).

Her court record includes a dozen theft convictions.

Jawbone’s record includes convictions for break-ins, thefts, fraud and court order breaches. She was given a conditional sentence of two years less a day, and two years of supervised probation in May 2025, court records showed.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca