Judge sends home invader to prison for eight years

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This article was published 09/04/2025 (353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After years spent in and out of jail, Nickolas Jonathan Mingo managed to stay on the right side of the law for more than a decade.

Then an inheritance from his late brother sparked a descent back into drug addiction, culminating in a horrifying home invasion that left a Japanese exchange student with a nearly severed arm.

“An inheritance is often a wonderful thing for a person, it can change their life,” provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson said Tuesday before sentencing the 45-year-old Winnipeg man to eight years in prison. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen in this case and… the temptation of a large amount of funds that were given to Mr. Mingo resulted in him… back hooked on drugs and involved in criminality in a spectacular fashion.”

According to a police arrest report filed in court, Mingo and an unidentified male were armed with a hatchet and machete when they broke into an Emerson Avenue home occupied by two Japanese exchange students and others, at about 3:30 a.m., Sept. 20.

Mingo and the second male rummaged through the bedroom of one of the sleeping students before awakening him and demanding to know where they could find money, drugs and guns they believed were in the house.

The student tried to escape, at which point Mingo and the second man attacked him with the machete and hatchet, nearly severing his left arm at the elbow and slicing his hand and ankle.

The second student yelled for help, awakening other residents in the house, as the home invaders fled out the back door, taking with them stolen cash, credit cards, identity documents and a laptop computer.

Police arrested Mingo the following day at an Exchange District hotel.

Court heard the students have since returned to Japan.

Crown attorney Scott Cooper said he was satisfied Mingo was truly remorseful for his actions.

“I expect that when Mr. Mingo got arrested, having committed these offences while presumably being quite drug intoxicated, that he can’t imagine how he found himself in this place, having gone 10 years (without) a criminal record,” Cooper said.

The 10-year gap in Mingo’s criminal record shows he can be a productive member of society, said defence lawyer Kevin Sneesby.

“He has potential… he has the ability to rehabilitate himself… he has family who love him, children who love him,” Sneesby said.

Mingo said he was ashamed of what he had done and was committed to bettering himself and regaining his sobriety.

“I did it before, I can do it again,” he said.

Mingo received credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to just over seven years.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca