Accused carjacker on probation for choking officer, assaulting two others

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This article was published 27/12/2023 (704 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man arrested after a violent carjacking earlier this month was on probation for choking an off-duty police officer until she nearly passed out, court records show.

Ricardo Miguel Gomes, 34, was arrested Dec. 15, hours after a 23-year-old man was robbed of his car at gunpoint on Corydon Avenue.

In November 2022, Gomes pleaded guilty to assaulting three police officers and failing to appear in court and was sentenced to 6 1/2 months in jail followed by 18 months supervised probation.

Court heard Gomes and his then-girlfriend had been drinking at their St. Anne’s Road apartment in October 2021 when they got into an argument over his drug use. The argument spilled outside the building, attracting the attention of other tenants, including an off-duty Winnipeg Police Service constable and her young son.

The officer, concerned Gomes was going to assault his girlfriend, identified herself and tried to separate them when Gomez turned his attention to the officer and shoved her away with both arms, Crown attorney Krista Burkis told court.

The officer told Gomes he was under arrest and was attempting to grab him when he punched her three to five times in the head, put her in a headlock and “squeezed tightly as she struggled to breathe,” Burkis said.

The officer yelled at her son to call 911 before Gomes’s girlfriend intervened and pulled him away from the officer.

“I remember thinking of the day we learned how to get out of a strangle hold,” the officer wrote in a victim impact statement provided to court. “I remember thinking: I have less than 10 seconds to get out of this as my vision started going black.”

“I remember (Gomes’) hands closing around my throat as he sat on me, pinning me to the ground,” she said. “My son was watching the whole time, unsure of what to do. I hate that he had to see that, has a memory of that and has to carry it with him.”

“I remember (Gomes’) hands closing around my throat as he sat on me, pinning me to the ground.”–Police constable

Police arrived and arrested Gomes, who was “displaying obvious signs of being under the influence,” Burkis said. Gomes bit one officer on the finger and kneed another officer in the head, briefly pinning him against the police cruiser’s protective divider between the front and back seats.

Gomes, who was on probation for a previous assault conviction, was released on an undertaking but was later taken into custody after he failed to show up for court.

The officer said she had to take time off work because her son was terrified he would run into Gomes in the apartment hallway or parking lot.

Gomes was initially set to stand trial for the assault, but later changed his mind and entered guilty pleas.

“When I heard he wanted a trial, I don’t want to admit it, but I was scared,” the officer said. “I was scared to have to relive my son watching as his mother was strangled and punched.”

“I was scared to have to relive my son watching as his mother was strangled and punched.”–Police constable

Gomes had a “serious issue of drug dependence” and participated in addictions counselling while in custody, said defence lawyer Amado Claros.

“What is obviously of concern, is the continuation of this rehabilitative step that Mr. Gomes has done,” Claros said.

Gomes told court he was shocked by his actions.

“I can’t believe I ever put myself in a position to do such harm to somebody,” he said. “I don’t want to be one of those people who are coming in and out of jail all my life.”

Provincial court Judge Don Slough called Gomes’s actions “horrifying” and “appalling.”

“You have the potential to straighten out and have a decent life,” Slough said. “I can promise you if there is anything like this again, no one is going to be talking about months, they are going to be talking years.”

In the most recent incident, Gomes is alleged to have approached a man as he was getting out of his car in the 500 block of Corydon Avenue and threatening him with a gun.

When the suspect demanded the victim’s car keys, the two men struggled and the gun discharged, hitting the car.

The suspect fled in the victim’s car, which was spotted four hours later near the intersection of Sherbrook Street and Ellice Avenue. The driver fled with the vehicle, and Gomes was arrested 20 minutes later in the 700 block of Watt Street.

Gomes remains in custody.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca