Arrest made in downtown child sex assault

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This article was published 24/03/2022 (1304 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man accused in the sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl Monday in downtown Winnipeg has a history of assault and weapons convictions.

The Winnipeg Police Service said the girl was at a bus shelter at the corner of Portage Avenue and Main Street at about 3:30 p.m., when a suspect struck up a conversation and convinced her to walk with him. The suspect took her to a stairwell at a building off Lombard Avenue and Rorie Street, then seriously sexually assaulted her, police said.

The pre-teen fled and contacted police.

Just before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, cadets on patrol downtown located a suspect; uniformed officers arrived and arrested him.

Johnny Walter Donald Garson, 36, of Winnipeg, faces charges of sexual assault and sexual interference. He was detained in custody. The charges have not yet been heard in court.

A December 2018 provincial court hearing, during which Garson pleaded guilty to assaulting a peace officer, possessing weapons contrary to a prohibition order, and court condition breaches, revealed details of the accused’s background.

Court heard on July 8 that year, shortly after 1 a.m, WPS officers spotted an apparently intoxicated Garson chasing an unidentified woman on St. Mary Avenue while screaming and cursing.

The officers located the man nearby, where he was trying to fight three random passersby. Court was told Garson clenched his fist and whirled in the direction of a constable, but missed.

After a brief struggle, he was taken into custody, where a warrant for the court breaches came to light. A search also revealed three folding knives, which he indicated were for protection, court heard.

He remained in custody until the Dec. 20 hearing, where the Crown and defence counsel jointly sought, and were granted, a sentence of time served.

Prior to his arrest Wednesday, Garson had been wanted on an outstanding warrant for possessing a weapon dangerous to the public peace — an offence allegedly committed July 12, 2021.

Court records show a criminal record dating to 2012, when Garson pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and served 18 months in custody, including time served, and became subject to a 10-year weapons prohibition.

In 2015, Garson pleaded guilty to possessing a weapon dangerous to the public peace and was sentenced to 30 days in custody and a year’s probation.

He has been charged and convicted of numerous breaches of court-ordered conditions.

During the 2018 hearing, court heard Garson, who is Indigenous, was in Child and Family Services care his entire youth. His mother was beaten to death by her spouse when Garson was 15. His father, who struggled with alcoholism, was found dead due to organ failure in a bus shack.

The number of foster, group home and emergency placements Garson resided in during his youth was anywhere from 30 to 60, court heard.

Garson informed his counsel he had been physically, sexually and emotionally abused while in care, resulting in his difficult coping mechanisms and self-medication, court was told.

He struggles with alcoholism and transiency, court heard. At the time of the 2018 hearing, he had five children, ages two to 18. The oldest two were being raised by former partners; the youngest three were in CFS care.

However, court heard in 2018, he was proud he had earned his Grade 12 education. He attended church and wanted to better himself.

Garson told provincial court Judge Kusham Sharma he planned to go to the North to work as a carpenter, something he had done in the past.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera