Accused in Osborne Village assaults has ‘very violent’ record By: Tyler Searle Posted: 7:18 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023

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This article was published 14/11/2023 (1064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After Lanessa Moskotaywenene pleaded guilty in March to assaulting three people in a daylight crime spree, a Manitoba judge urged her to stay away from methamphetamine, warning the illicit drug was linked to her violent behaviour.

Court records show the 24-year-old Winnipeg woman now faces several charges relating to a Nov. 12 incident inside a Shoppers Drug Mart in Osborne Village that left two women (ages 57 and 30) and a 75-year-old man with stab wounds.

They are the latest charges in a lengthy and drug-fuelled criminal record that includes numerous assaults and a self-defence acquittal in a 2018 stabbing that left a 22-year-old woman dead.

“Certainly, her record is concerning because, despite her young age, it is very violent,” Crown prosecutor Sarah Murdoch said during a March 14 sentencing hearing.

Court heard Moskotaywenene was high on meth Dec. 2, 2022, when — carrying a duvet and covering her face with a scarf — she leaped over the counter of a Ellice Avenue restaurant and began lunging at terrified employees with a sharpened screwdriver.

“Suffice it to say, (it was) scary and definitely strange to see this,” Murdoch said, describing how the manager ordered his staff to take shelter in the back of the business, before arming himself with a fry basket soaked in boiling oil.

Moskotaywenene attempted to stab the man multiple times, but he was able to avoid the attack. She then turned her attention to a 22-year-old staff member, stabbing the woman in the upper arm before fleeing the building.

Minutes later, she entered a nearby call centre on St. James Street and assaulted an employee. Moskotaywenene admitted to kicking and thrashing as police arrested her later that day in the parking lot of the Polo Park mall.

“These are unprovoked attacks when she is under the influence of meth,” Murdoch said. “We do have concerns with her being out in public under the influence of meth because, obviously, what happens is there are people that are put at risk.”

Defence lawyer Mitchel Merriott outlined a difficult childhood marked by neglect, abuse and substance use issues that began when Moskotaywenene was 11.

She has diagnoses of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and reactive attachment disorder — a rare condition in which an infant does not establish a healthy attachments with parents or caregivers, resulting in behavioural problems, Merriott said.

“In respect to what was going on that day, I think it was a case of her past informing her present,” the lawyer said. “She will see threats where there are none and will respond inappropriately… This is a result of her meth use and mental illness.”

Merriott told the court Moskotaywenene achieved a Grade 10 education. She has no work history and frequently accesses supports from various homeless shelters and services in Winnipeg.

He and Murdoch jointly recommended Moskotaywenene serve 11 months in custody, with an enhanced credit of 155 days for time served.

Before handing down his sentence, provincial court Judge Raymond Wyant chastised Moskotaywenene for her behaviour during the proceedings, saying he noticed her laughing “on more than one occasion.”

“Did you think it’s funny? Because you scared these people pretty badly,” the judge said.

“That 22-year-old that was stabbed in the arm is going to have nightmares, perhaps for the rest of her life, as a result of what you did. That’s not fair is it? And it’s not funny either.”

Wyant agreed with the joint recommendation, setting a September release date and imposing a DNA order, weapons prohibition and probation orders.

“Frankly, uncontrolled and without her co-operation with probation services, I worry about her risk to the community and the repetition of this type of behaviour, if not more violent,” the judge said at the time.

“If you do it again, courts are going to have no other alternative but to keep you in custody for longer and longer periods of time.”

Shortly after leaving custody in September, Moskotaywenene failed to comply with the conditions of her probation order, court records show.

When she was arrested Nov. 12, officers found Moskotaywenene near a riverbank encampment on the first 100 block of Roslyn Road. Police could not confirm whether she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca