Man charged in hate-graffiti spree arrested again after Crescentwood break-in

Winnipeg’s mayor says public safety must come first in decisions about releasing accused individuals, but stresses that protecting the public doesn’t mean ignoring mental-health issues or simply locking people away.

Mayor Scott Gillingham’s comments come after a man accused of spraying hate-related graffiti on a synagogue, mosque, high school and other locations earlier this month, was arrested again after being released last week with conditions.

Oliver Didtger Ederhof, 34, is facing several new charges after a Crescentwood break-in Friday evening, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Tuesday morning.

Ederhof was charged last week with 14 counts of mischief under $5,000 after a spray-painting spree between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Jan. 2. He was arrested Thursday morning and released from custody on an undertaking.

The rearrest has reignited debate over bail reform, which Gillingham has pushed the federal government on, including launching his own weekly reoffender bulletin before the feds proposed the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act in October.

“I have said when it comes to reform, I’m not about just locking people up and throwing away the key,” Gillingham told the Free Press on Tuesday. “If people have a sickness, a mental illness, I think we have to make sure those people are getting the help that they need so that they are not reoffending. And in this case, it appears that this individual needs more mental-health supports.”

Ederhof has no criminal convictions in Manitoba. In January 2025, he entered Winnipeg’s mental-health court program to address charges that included an alleged assault and weapons offences.

The program diverts people whose offences are directly linked to mental illness away from the traditional court system.

Over six months, Ederhof completed the program, the court heard in July, leading to the charges being stayed. He consistently attended therapy and psychiatric appointments, focused on coping skills and sobriety, and stabilized his mental health through treatment and prescribed medication for schizoaffective disorder.

The court heard he gained a stronger understanding of his condition and how to manage it. Schizoaffective disorder involves schizophrenia-like symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions, along with mood symptoms including depression or mania.

Brandon Trask, an associate professor of law at the University of Manitoba, said, generally speaking, society needs to take a look at how the criminal justice system deals with people experiencing mental-health issues.

There are three questions asked at the bail stage, Trask said, including whether an accused person is likely to show up to court, whether they pose a risk, and whether public confidence in the administration of justice will be affected if they are released.

Trask said that the system is designed not to deny people bail on the basis of mental-health conditions.

“It’s a tricky issue,” he said, adding that in order to get into mental-health court, there has to be a connection between someone’s behaviour that could be considered criminal in nature and their mental-health status.

There could be some really serious underlying health concerns that could be playing in here,” he said. “So those types of cases, it can be really tricky, because there’s often more to the story than initially meets the eye.”

Swastikas were sprayed on the Abu Bakr Al-Siddique mosque and community centre, Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, Kelvin High School and the entrance to Munson Park on Wellington Crescent. Homes, garages and vehicles in Crescentwood were also painted with “hate-related graffiti,” police said Friday afternoon.

Late that night, at about 11:30 p.m., police were sent to a Crescentwood home. The residents told police they found a man standing in their home after their security alarm went off. The man then left.

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Nothing was taken and there was no damage.

Gillingham said he’s thankful police made the arrest as quickly as they did, and also commended the public for their help.

“Regardless of why a person is perpetrating a crime, there’s a traumatic, devastating impact on the victims,” he said.

“And that’s why I said that public safety and public confidence have got to be paramount in making decisions as to what to do with those who have been arrested.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.