Killer released after serving two-thirds of sentence back in federal prison, charged with beating elderly couple

A man accused of a brutal and random attack on a pair of Winnipeg pedestrians in their 80s has been sent back to federal prison after his statutory release from a manslaughter sentence was formally revoked by parole officials last month.

Nathan Paul, who was charged with two counts of assault cause bodily harm, resisting arrest and on a warrant for breaching his statutory release after the Elgin Avenue attack last fall, had been sentenced in November 2020 to nine years in prison for a 2018 killing in Oxford House, Parole Board of Canada records confirm.

After a “successful period” on day parole, Paul was statutorily released on his manslaughter sentence — which most federal prisoners become automatically eligible for at two-thirds of their sentence — on Oct. 29, 2024, said parole officials in a Dec. 17 decision.

Paul, now in his late 20s, was ordered not to drink, among various other conditions, and was reportedly adjusting well to life outside prison walls, living first at a sober living house before moving in with a girlfriend and working toward an apprenticeship as a carpenter.

That’s until his alleged involvement in the attacks on Elgin Avenue.

“You incurred new and serious violent criminal charges while on statutory release,” wrote parole officials in the recent decision.

“These offences occurred while you were intoxicated, which is particularly concerning given your known substance-related risk factors.”

The victims in the Sept. 20 incident, an 80-year-old woman and an 85-year-old man, were walking on the sidewalk on Elgin Avenue near McPhillips Street when a man they didn’t know — alleged to be Paul — ran up to the woman and pushed her to the ground just after 6 p.m. The man tried to intervene and was punched in the face.

The two victims were repeatedly punched and stomped on while they were on the ground, the Winnipeg Police Service said at the time. Parole officials described the victims as vulnerable.

Officers, who had been called about a man who was running into traffic and running at passing vehicles in the area, found their suspect when they arrived, but had to use a Taser on him multiple times in order to take him into custody, police said at the time.

Parole officials said his alleged conduct at the scene demonstrates Paul’s “high level of… propensity to lose control.”

The parole decision alleges that when Winnipeg police arrived at the scene, they found Paul “on top of a child who was distressed and screaming.” It appears he was not charged with assaulting the youth.

The octogenarian victims were taken to hospital with serious injuries that police described as not life-threatening.

Paul later admitted to parole officials he had consumed a one-litre bottle of liquor before he was picked up by police. He said he had no memory of what had occurred.

He would not speak to the charges while parole officials interviewed him post suspension and would not reveal where he had been prior to the Elgin Avenue incidents.

“Of particular concern is that these offences occurred while you were under statutory release and subject to conditions intended to manage your risk. Your new alleged charges indicate that you have returned to your crime cycle,” wrote officials.

“You demonstrated a complete disregard for your conditions, and you were unable or unwilling to apply the skills learned in programming prior to consuming alcohol. You have demonstrated that your risk to reoffend is undue and has significantly escalated.”

Paul received his federal sentence in 2020 after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the killing of 21-year-old Tanner Grieves on Halloween night in 2018.

Paul’s girlfriend had broken up with him a day before he came upon Grieves, 21, and the woman kissing outside a house party in Oxford House, court heard at the time. He then severely beat him into unconsciousness. Paul was attempting to revive Grieves when RCMP officers arrived, but the victim was pronounced dead soon after.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca