Firefighter accused of violating protection order jailed for past harassment

A Winnipeg firefighter accused of violating a protection order this week has been jailed two times in the past decade for criminally harassing two different women, court records show.

In each case, Christopher Goethals was allowed to return to his job with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.

Goethals, 59, was arrested July 21 after breaching a protection order requiring he not come within 200 metres of a named protected person, police said.

Police allege Goethals was in full uniform and on “modified duties” driving a WFPS fleet vehicle at the time of the offence.

At the time of his arrest, Goethals was still serving a one-year conditional sentence imposed last January after he pleaded guilty to two counts of disobeying court orders. That sentence was in addition to just over 12 months he had finished serving for criminal harassment.

In a media release issued Wednesday, Goethals’ union said his alleged actions do “not reflect the character or commitment” of the city’s 1,500 firefighters and firefighter paramedics.

When asked Thursday if the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg supported Goethals’ return to work following his criminal convictions, union president Nick Kasper declined to provide an explicit answer and deferred comment to the city.

“Our role as the certified bargaining agent is to represent employees in matters arising from the employment relationship in accordance with the collective agreement and applicable labour legislation,” Kasper said. “The UFFW does not comment publicly on matters involving the representation of individual members.”

A city spokesman refused to answer any questions about Goethals’ case, including whether convictions for criminal harassment are a barrier to employment, what Goethals’ job duties were when he returned to work, or why he was allowed access to a fleet vehicle when he was bound by a conditional sentence.

“When a woman tells you to stop contacting her and you continue to contact her – it’s a crime.”

Court heard at his January sentencing that Goethals had been in a four-year on-again, off-again relationship with the victim before she ended it in November 2023. Goethals continued to call and message the woman multiple times a week, professing his love, to no response, and on Christmas Day left a diamond ring in her mailbox.

Later, Goethals visited the woman’s son’s school and delivered flowers to the woman’s workplace, prompting her to send him a text telling him to leave them alone.

“Mr. Goethals responded that she ‘was rude,’” Crown attorney Amanda Heslop told court.

Over the next several months, Goethals continued to message the woman and follow her.

The woman called police July 25, 2024, after she saw Goethals parked outside a home where she had been visiting a friend. The woman applied for and was granted a protection order the following day prohibiting Goethals from coming within 200 metres of her, her home or workplace. Goethals went on to repeatedly breach the condition, including once when he hid behind a hedge as she got into her car at The Forks.

Goethals was arrested after that incident and released. He was rearrested six weeks later after he was caught on security camera peering into the woman’s backyard.

Goethals remained in custody until his January sentencing.

“In case this hasn’t sunk in yet, I’m going to explain this to him as simply as possible,” the woman wrote in a victim impact statement provided to court.

“When a woman tells you to stop contacting her and you continue to contact her — it’s a crime,” she said. “When a woman tells you to leave her alone and you continue to invade her life — it’s a crime.”

Defence lawyer Tony Kavanagh told court Goethals had received the message “loud and clear” and had no intention of doing anything that would put him back in jail.

“He is anxious to get back to work,” Kavanagh said. “He’s 59. He doesn’t want to see the inside of a jail cell again.”

“He refused to take no for an answer.”

In 2017, Goethals pleaded guilty to criminally harassing his longtime partner and breaking into her new home shortly after she left him. Goethals was credited 16 months for time served and sentenced to an additional six months custody and three years supervised probation.

Goethals’ ex-partner “refused all requests for reconciliation and he refused to take no for an answer,” Crown attorney Shannon Benevides told court. “He felt entitled to continue to make efforts to keep her in the relationship.”

When the woman told Goethals she was going to seek a protection order, he told her “a piece of paper won’t keep you safe.”

In July 2016, Goethals was convicted of breaching a protection order, sentenced to five months jail and two years supervised probation, during which time he was to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.

According to a pre-sentence report provided to court, Goethals told a probation officer he planned to “make her life miserable” when he was released from jail.

“I fear for my life when he is released,” the woman wrote in a victim impact statement. “He blames me for everything.”

Goethals remains in custody. His next court date is July 31.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca