‘He hears voices’: man who shattered bus windows with head gets 60 days

A mentally ill Winnipeg man has been sentenced to 60 days jail after admitting to smashing the windows of four city transit buses over the course of a single day.

The 30-year-old man was released from jail Friday having already served the equivalent of 135 days in custody. He pleaded guilty to one count of mischief and an unrelated charge of uttering threats to a hospital security guard.

Court heard the man has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, struggles with an addiction to methamphetamine, has an IQ of approximately 70 and is a ward of the Public Trustee.

“Until he gets that substance abuse in check, he does present a risk to the public,” Crown attorney Courtney St. Croix told provincial court Judge Robert Heinrichs.

Police arrested the man Jan. 11 after security video captured him smashing the windows on four different buses with his head between 1:36 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., causing an estimated $3,000 in damage.

“He hears voices, it’s distressing to him and he wants them to stop,” said defence lawyer Jesse Blackman. “Unfortunately, it’s the windows on Winnipeg Transit that suffer the violence. Also, his head.”

The man applied to have his case dealt with in mental health court, but he was denied admission due to his history of substance abuse, court was told.

“This is ultimately someone with mental health issues who, in part because of a lack of support in the community, ends up in a cycle of addiction and that directly contributes to the offences before the court,” Blackman said.

The man has a prior history of identical offences and at the time of his arrest was still bound by an order banning him from Winnipeg Transit until August 2027.

“You need to understand that if you are back on a bus when you are not supposed to, even if you are not hearing voices and smashing windows… you could be back in custody,” Heinrichs told the man. “I’m hoping you will figure that out and not get on a bus.”

In August, the man pleaded guilty to four counts of mischief to property and related offences and was sentenced to 105 days served and two years probation, during which time he was banned from riding on Winnipeg Transit.

On six days between October 2024 and March 2025, the man was sitting in a city bus when he forcefully and repeatedly banged his head or hands against a window, breaking or shattering them.

At the time, Winnipeg Transit had banned the man from riding on city buses after he pleaded guilty to three identical mischief charges in 2023, but he was not bound by any court prohibition.

The man “is well known to Winnipeg Transit officials,” a transit manager said in a victim impact statement provided to court in August. “When he rides the bus, he will use his head to break bus windows… This is emotionally disturbing to see for other bus riders, bus operators and transit inspectors who deal with him.”

The man was arrested and released three times, only to reoffend again and again.

City of Winnipeg spokesperson Pam McKenzie said there were 219 bus windows broken by vandalism last year at a cost of $35,239.58, or about $161 per window.

“Generally speaking, buses are out of service for 24 to 48 hours while we complete window repairs,” McKenzie said, noting spare buses are used so there is no impact to service.

James Van Gerwen, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said incidents like smashed windows take a toll on bus drivers and are scary for passengers.

“They do affect our members mentally,” he said. “It is tough to continue on after that. But we see incidents more often than you think on buses. People bring some type of psychological problems and drivers see it on the buses.”

— with files from Kevin Rollason

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca