Police seek more suspects
Judge orders two accused youths to surrender passports
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/04/2010 (5667 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Winnipeg police are looking for two more St. John’s-Ravenscourt School students as suspects in a sexual-assault investigation that has already led to the arrests of four students.
And a judge has ordered two of the accused youths who were granted bail Thursday to turn in their passports over fears they might flee the country.
Three are youths who appeared at the Manitoba Youth Court on Thursday. An 18-year-old suspect, a student from China in his second year at SJR, was charged as an adult. He has no prior record.

The accused appeared by video from the Winnipeg Remand Centre but said nothing. He remains in custody there.
Eight days after a student first talked to school officials, police charged four teens Thursday with sexual assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, and uttering threats.
It’s alleged the senior boarding students threatened the younger male boarders, holding them down and placing a wooden stick up against their buttocks, sometime during the fall session between September and December. As many as 15 students may have been targeted.
Police said the charges were based on an interview with one victim Wednesday, and more charges are pending.
"There are a number of victims, or possible victims, that will be interviewed in the near future," said city police spokeswoman Const. Jackie Chaput.
CFS will also be investigating the school.
"We want to make sure that this investigation is conducted as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. We don’t want to put any undue pressure on other potential victims that are out there," she said.
Chaput said the WPS child-abuse and sex-crimes units are handling the investigation.
"It’s clearly another level of concern," said Stephen Johnson, head of the elite private school in Fort Garry. "Those are very serious charges."
A letter to parents last Friday said two students were to face a disciplinary committee and two students were suspended for five days in connection after information emerged "students were assaulting other students in boarding."
At least four boys from grades eight, nine, 10 and 11 were affected, said Johnson.
"It just redoubles our efforts to make sure we work with our boys in boarding and the boarding staff to get to the bottom of what happened," said Johnson. "Whether it was four or 14 (victims), it doesn’t matter, it’s still a problem."
Johnson said school officials did not delay giving information to police before officers arrested and charged the four students.
He said additional information from an internal SJR investigation was turned over to police on Tuesday, after school officials asked officers to put down what they needed in writing.
Johnson said legal counsel instructed the school to consult with the affected families before going to police.
The two suspended students will be able to continue their studies, and the two who withdrew will be able to get an SJR diploma through online work and distance education.
Two of the accused voluntarily withdrew from the school Tuesday after a disciplinary committee recommended expulsion.
Two more, who were suspended for five days last week, will not be allowed to return to school until CFS officials clear it.
A source said the charges announced Thursday relate to a single incident involving a roommate of one of the four teen suspects. The charges only came to light after an SJR teacher allegedly overheard a remark made by an SJR student that led to further questions, said the source.
As of Thursday, the victim and one of the accused were still friends on the social-networking site Facebook.
Parents at the school originally learned of the allegations last Friday after a letter was sent about an assault. A letter this Monday said police had been contacted, after school officials spoke to the affected families.
One St. John’s-Ravenscourt parent said he was "disgusted" with the way the incident was handled and is investigating other schools. Parents were asked by St. John’s-Ravenscourt not to speak to the media.
"I don’t know what the hell they were waiting for," he said.
A letter sent to SJR parents Thursday afternoon said none of the accused students was allowed back in the school.
"Police still have more interviews to do with students and there may be more charges laid against these four individuals resulting from those interviews," said the letter.
It continues later: "As you can imagine our boarders have families living halfway across the world and speak many languages. Keeping the parents of the affected children informed and getting parental permission at different steps in the process takes time and patience."
Sheldon Pinx, who represents the adult charged, said his client is anxious to proceed with a bail hearing, possibly this afternoon.
"He’s never been in this kind of a situation before," said Pinx, who had wanted to have a bail hearing Thursday. The Crown, however, asked for a one-day adjournment, after apparently getting a package of material from police just 10 minutes before court, with other materials still to come.
Pinx said all he had is a two-page summary of the case. "We’re waiting on a significant amount of disclosure, which hasn’t been sent over to us yet."
He has no family in Winnipeg, but does have good family and friends here who will be supporting him as part of the bail plan, Pinx said.
Pinx said a special hearing may go as early as 2 p.m. today, although he conceded it could be pushed to next week if he still doesn’t have disclosure and the Crown is not consenting.
Meanwhile, at the Manitoba Youth Centre on Thursday, the three suspects looked calm as they listened to the proceedings. At the side of the courtroom, the parents of one of the youths and a family member of the third looked sad during the hearing.
Judge Sid Lerner agreed to let all three out on bail as long as they agreed to certain conditions, including the surrendering of their passports, not having any contact with the alleged victim, not going within two blocks of the private school, making weekly personal appearances with justice officials and putting up $10,000 sureties.
— with files from Mike McIntyre
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
Every piece of reporting Kevin 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.
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