Dean Pritchard

No trial date, no comment: family accused of staged hate crime left Canada in 2020

Nearly two years after vowing they wanted “their day in court,” three members of a Winnipeg family accused of staging a hate crime at their now-defunct River Heights restaurant remain outside the grasp of Manitoba prosecutors.

Alexander and Oxana Berent and their son, Maxim Berent, were charged with public mischief after alleging their Corydon Avenue restaurant, BerMax Caffé and Bistro, had been the target of four antisemitic attacks in 2019.

Arguing they had no financial supports in the city and were being ostracized by the local religious community, the three accused were given court approval to relocate to Los Angeles in January 2020, with the expectation they would return to Winnipeg for trial the following October.

Ex-staffer sues Headingley jail over alleged sexual assault

A Winnipeg woman has filed a lawsuit against Headingley Correctional Centre, claiming jail officials knew her co-worker had a history of sexual harassment when he allegedly sexually assaulted her as they worked an overnight shift together.

Former correctional officer Narada Hines is named as a defendant in a statement of claim filed in Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench last week. Hines, 42, is set to stand trial in September on a single count of sexual assault.

“Hines’ employment provided the opportunity to commit the assault on the plaintiff,” the statement of claim alleges. “The plaintiff had previously advised her superiors that Hines’ conduct toward her was inappropriate and unwelcome, but Hines and the plaintiff were nonetheless scheduled to work an overnight shift in close proximity to each other.”

‘Victimization of children spanned the globe’: Crown seeks 22 years for internet luring, child porn

The arrest of a Winnipeg sex predator uncovered a network of abuse that spanned the globe and victimized hundreds of children, a court heard Wednesday.

Kenneth Emerson’s arrest in July 2020 led to the discovery of tens of thousands of pages of internet chat room logs in which he manipulated child victims into performing sex acts for him.

“The chats discovered on the accused’s phone revealed that the accused had directly victimized hundreds of children, created and distributed child sexual abuse material, and tried to assist other like-minded offenders in connecting with children to abuse in their jurisdiction,” Crown attorney Katie Dojack told provincial court Judge Wanda Garreck.

“These chats show that the accused’s online victimization of children spanned the globe and included children in the U.K., Canada, Australia, Italy, USA, New Zealand, Ireland, Romania, Guatemala and Sweden.”

No parole for 20 years for 2020 torture, murder

Born in Bolivia, Gerhard Reimer-Wiebe and his young wife moved to Canada in hopes of building a better life, only to have their dreams dashed in the most horrifying way.

After settling in the Steinbach area, Reimer-Wiebe, struggling with life in a new country and raising a young family, turned to alcohol and drugs.

“I was completely at rock bottom,” Reimer-Wiebe said in a 2018 video recorded for Teen Challenge, a faith-based counselling service he leaned on for help with his addictions.

Reimer-Wiebe rebounded for a time, but relapsed, and by June 2020, the 27-year-old man was staying in a Winnipeg home.

Sex convictions quashed: judge finds man entrapped by police

A Winnipeg man found guilty of luring a minor over the Plenty of Fish dating website has had his convictions quashed after a judge ruled police had entrapped him.

Michael Joseph Lymych was convicted last year after being tried for internet luring and making sexually explicit material available to a minor.

Lymych, 36, was arrested as part of a Winnipeg Police Service investigation, Project Hook, which targeted the online luring of minors.

Following his conviction, Lymych applied for a judicial stay, alleging an abuse of process by police. Lymych argued police had no reason to believe he would commit a crime, and but for the actions of an undercover police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl, he would not have been induced to commit one.