News briefs for Tuesday, December 20, 2022

A high-rise apartment on Wellington Crescent sustained “significant damage” in a fire Monday.

Firefighters were sent to the scene in the 100 block of Wellington Crescent at 5:11 p.m., the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said in a news release that night.

Three suites sustained significant damage. The residents of those suites are temporarily displaced, the WFPS said. No injuries were reported. Most other residents were able to return to their suites.

The building sustained significant damage from smoke, fire and water used to extinguish the fire, the WFPS said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A convicted sex offender with a history of violence and sexual offences was released from prison on Saturday.

The Manitoba Integrated High Risk Sex Offender Unit said on Tuesday Cecil Junior Houle, 46, was released from Headingley Correctional Institution three days ago.

The unit is warning the public Houle is still considered a high risk of reoffending even though he took part in some treatment programming in jail.

Houle killed his common-law wife in 2006 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter. His most recent conviction was for not complying with conditions in his probation order and he received a sentence of the 105 days he served in custody.

The unit says the community information has been released to help the public protect themselves and is not to encourage any type of vigilante action.

The Winnipeg Jets have recalled netminder Arvid Holm from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis.

The club skates this morning — prior to tonight’s clash with the visiting Ottawa Senators — and Jets coach Rick Bowness should provide an update on the status of No. 1 goalie Connor Hellebuyck and backup David Rittich.

In another roster move, Winnipeg officially placed forward Blake Wheeler on the injured reserve list. The veteran winger took a shot to the groin last Thursday and missed a pair of games over the weekend.

 

RCMP are investigating after the body of a man was found outside a home in Easterville.

Manitoba RCMP said Tuesday that officers found the body of a 28-year-old man at 12:35 p.m. Saturday. The death is considered suspicious and is being investigated as a homicide.

The Office Chief Medical Examiner is also investigating.

Easterville is about 460 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

The Winnipeg Jets will be without No. 1 goalie Connor Hellebuyck tonight when they welcome the Ottawa Senators to town.

Jets head coach Rick Bowness confirmed after morning skate that Hellebuyck is out with a non-COVID related illness, but is expected to join the team for their upcoming two-game road trip to Boston (Thursday) and Washington (Friday). Winnipeg has called up Arvid Holm from the Manitoba Moose on an emergency basis.

Defenceman Ville Heinola draws into the Jets lineup for the first time since Nov. 23. He will play alongside Dylan Samberg.

A 65-year-old woman from Mississauga, Ont. is dead after a collision on the South Perimeter Highway Monday afternoon.

RCMP were called to the two-vehicle collision on the highway, near the Pembina Highway overpass, just before 4 p.m.

Mounties have determined the woman lost control of her vehicle crossing the overpass, colliding with the concrete median, before a westbound cube van driven by a 22-year-old man hit her vehicle.

The woman was taken to hospital, where she died of her injuries. The second driver was not hurt. RCMP traffic investigators, as well as a forensic reconstructionist, are still investigating.

An unknown man followed an 11-year-old girl into her St. Vital apartment building and sexually assaulted her Monday afternoon, Winnipeg police say.

Police were called to the building, which they described as being in the Worthington neighbourhood of St. Vital, at about 5:15 p.m., where they met with the victim and her caregiver.

The girl had returned to her apartment after walking her dog around 5 p.m., when a man she didn’t know followed and touched her in an “unwanted sexual manner,” covering her mouth as she tried to scream, police said. The man ran from the building and the girl made it to her suite. She wasn’t hurt physically.

Police describe the suspect as a black male in his teens who was wearing a dark jacket, dark pants and an orange “beanie” hat. Child abuse investigators ask anyone with information about the suspect to call the unit at 204-986-3296.