Crown stays sex-assault charge against former city councillor Wyatt

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This article was published 06/06/2019 (1931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A charge of sexual assault against former city councillor Russ Wyatt has been stayed.

An administrative stay was entered Wednesday, court records show.

Police opened an investigation in January 2018 after a woman accused Wyatt of attacking her in his home. He was arrested the following July and charged with what police described as a “serious sexual assault.”

Wyatt, 49, represented the Transcona ward from 2002 until last fall when he announced he would not be seeking re-election.

“Mr. Wyatt has steadfastly maintained his innocence,” his lawyer, Evan Roitenberg, said Friday.

“Mr. Wyatt is very, very relieved the Crown has declined an opportunity to prove him anything other than innocent.”

Roitenberg declined to comment on the specific reasons that led to the stay.

“There were a number of factors at play, but I won’t speak for the Crown,” he said.

Wyatt took a leave of absence from city hall in mid-January 2018, from what city officials said was a family matter.

The following March, in a letter provided exclusively to the Free Press, Wyatt disclosed he was seeking treatment at the Aurora Recovery Centre north of Gimli for alcohol and substance “disorders.” The letter made no reference to the sexual assault allegation.

Last June, while attending the Winnipeg Pride parade, Wyatt came out as bisexual, saying he had been living a double life.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.

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