Man charged in bus sex assaults

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This article was published 02/10/2022 (814 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two women on a Transit bus has been convicted of similar offences as recently as 2020, court records show.

Justin Kenneth Monan, 36, was arrested Sunday, and charged with two counts of sexual assault and three counts of causing a disturbance.

The Winnipeg Police Service asked for the public’s help in identifying a suspect Sept. 20 and listed the bus number, route and times of six different incidents. At the time, the WPS said a man, over a period of 4 1/2 hours that morning, pinched women’s buttocks while trying to kiss them. Another person said the suspect spat on them.

The sex crimes unit identified a suspect captured on security video causing disturbances and assaulting passengers Sept. 16-23, police said Monday. During these incidents, the man boarded several buses without paying and continued to yell, swear and assault passengers, police said.

Two adult females eventually contacted police to say they had been sexually assaulted. Similar incidents were seen on video, but those victims have not been identified, police said.

In November 2020, Monan pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two women, one of them on a Transit bus, and to simple assault with respect to a third woman, and was sentenced to nine months in jail.

Court heard Monan was on a bus in the area of Main Street and Pioneer Avenue around 10:20 a.m., when he sat next to a woman and tried to kiss her. The woman pushed Monan away and got off the bus, with Monan following her. Monan tried to kiss her again and she pushed him way, at which point Monan threw a cup of cold coffee in her face and walked away.

One hour later, Monan approached a woman in the area of Vaughn Street and Portage Avenue, grabbed her shirt collar and stuffed a handful of pamphlets under her shirt and over her breasts before fleeing. Minutes later, at Air Canada Park, Monan approached a third woman and kissed her on the lips and groped her before she pushed him off and he ran away.

Court was told Monan has been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and schizoaffective disorder and struggles with an addiction to methamphetamine.

“This is one of those hard situations where we have an accused person who, for a number of reasons, may have reduced moral blameworthiness, but continues to have high risk (for) violence… and that, of course, is very concerning,” Crown attorney Julia Negrea told provincial court Judge Tim Killeen. “Being followed off the bus by someone who is sexually aggressive is frankly terrifying.”

Monan in the past managed his mental challenges with medication, but when his addiction to methamphetamine intensified, he stopped taking them, defence lawyer Mitch Mraovic told court.

Monan pleaded guilty to several other offences, including possessing a dangerous weapon and breaching court orders, for which Killeen sentenced him to another four months in custody.

In 2019, Monan was sentenced to 20 months in jail for robbing a 67-year-old woman. Monan was on probation for that offence when he was arrested in August 2020 for causing a disturbance at a grocery store and found in possession of a machete.

Monan remains in custody.

The sex crimes unit is still investigating and is asking anyone who wants to speak with an investigator to call them at 204-986-6245 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477 (TIPS).

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca