Mayor Scott Gillingham today released his third Repeat Offender Bulletin, featuring a 2022 manslaughter case that illustrates the risks posed by violent offenders released on bail.
According to a Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) report provided to the Mayor, the offender in this case “attacked, stabbed and killed” a victim during a drug buy. The report also notes other victims were seriously assaulted and sexually assaulted in relation to the incident. The individual was free on bail at the time following an arrest for firearms possession and had a long history of assaults, weapons charges, thefts and bail violations — including a 2011 stabbing that occurred in front of a young child.
The case is part of a broader pattern highlighted in WPS data. Among those charged with a violent crime in 2024, nearly half (49%) of the suspects who were already known to police had been charged with a separate violent crime in just the previous five years.
“These numbers confirm what frontline officers see every day, the same people cycling through the justice system, committing violent crimes again and again,” said Gillingham. “That’s why we need federal bail and sentencing laws that put community safety first and keep high-risk offenders in custody.”
This bulletin follows two earlier examples released by Gillingham that highlighted separate cases involving repeat offenders who were released on bail before committing assault and murder. All three offenders featured to date are now serving jail sentences for their most recent offences.
Gillingham is again asking Winnipeggers to respectfully support comprehensive bail and sentencing reform by writing to the federal Minister of Justice at mcu@justice.gc.ca.