Man who targeted escorts deserves 13 years: Crown

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This article was published 04/04/2023 (1154 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prosecutors are seeking a 13-year prison sentence for a Winnipeg man guilty of a string of violent robberies in which female escort workers were targeted.

“These robberies weren’t just about obtaining goods… these robberies were about exerting power over the victims,” Crown attorney Michelle Bright told King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne at a sentencing hearing Tuesday.

D.S. was convicted of choking, assaulting and robbing three women he had arranged to meet after contacting them through a website used by sex trade workers. A publication ban imposed Tuesday prohibits identifying the man by name, as it might identify his victims. The attacks occurred over 16 days in January 2021.

D.S. used the website “as his hunting ground,” Bright said.

One victim told court she thought she was going to die when D.S., just moments after being let into her hotel room, wrapped his hands around her neck and started choking her.

“You didn’t see me as a human being before you, but as a target,” the woman wrote in a victim impact statement read out in court.

The woman said working as an escort “was supposed to be a temporary thing in my life,” but the attack left her unable to work and pursue her goals.

“I’m working on forgiving you, not for you, but for myself,” she said. “Somewhere inside you are sorry for what you have done… I pray you can change and be a better person and treat women the way they should be treated.”

Another victim, who D.S. attacked and robbed inside her Tuxedo apartment, said 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 D.S.’s three-week trial earlier this year. The Crown has filed an appeal of the stays involving two of the alleged victims.

Court has heard 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 D.S. to the crimes, but two of his victims identified him in a photo lineup. In addition, security video from outside D.S.’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.

The Crown’s 13-year sentence recommendation is comprised of consecutive sentences for the three victims.

Defence lawyer Tara Walker argued consecutive sentences were not appropriate as D.S.’s crimes constituted a two-week “spree,” and should be considered one ongoing offence.

Walker, who recommended D.S. be sentenced to 20 months time served, said he has had a troubled life, including a family and personal history of mental illness, and struggles with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

D.S., who remains in custody, will be sentenced May 9.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca