Accused in random assaults had been released days earlier

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This article was published 01/05/2023 (1053 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man accused of two random, unprovoked assaults on Princess Street in late March had been released from custody 10 days prior, after being found guilty of assaulting a police officer.

The 31-year-old was charged last week with assault causing bodily harm and assault.

Winnipeg police were called to Seven Oaks General Hospital for a report of a man who had been assaulted at Pacific Avenue and Princess Street, around 8 a.m. March 30.

The 56-year-old was hit in the upper body “without provocation” and fell to the sidewalk before a passerby took him to the hospital, police said in April. The suspect also attacked a second victim.

Police arrested the suspect after he was spotted “harassing pedestrians” downtown April 26. He was due in bail court Monday.

On March 20, provincial court Judge Michael Clark heard the accused had sought a spot at the Behavioural Health Foundation’s in-patient rehabilitation facility or to non-profit Morberg House, but neither had room for him ahead of his release on the assault peace officer charge.

Court heard his offending in general was tied to an issue with drinking, which he had tried to address in a drug treatment program in Headingley jail during a previous sentence.

He was found guilty of the assault after a trial — committed in a holding cell at Winnipeg Police Service headquarters in April 2022 — but was granted release considering the 17 days he had spent in custody, enhanced to count for 25 1/2 days, a review of his sentencing hearing shows.

Clark said the man was causing a commotion in the holding cell at about 11:15 p.m. April 24, punching and kicking the walls and door.

Officers who testified said a group of five entered the cell to restrain the suspect to prevent him from harming himself.

Court heard he barrelled into one officer’s chest with his head and shoulder. The officers then cuffed and shackled him after some resistance.

The accused in the Princess Street incidents has a record of past violent offences, including a 2013 aggravated assault, in which a victim was attacked and stabbed by a group of suspects, and a 2015 robbery, in which he presented a pellet gun to demand money from a cab driver.

His lawyer at the March sentencing said the man was born and raised in Winnipeg and has significant Gladue factors — which courts must take into consideration when sentencing Indigenous offenders.

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com