WINNIPEG — A 21-year-old man has admitted to violent sexual assaults on two Winnipeg women, one of whom was left to die on the banks of the Assiniboine River.
The victims were 16 and 20-years-old at the time of the attacks on November 7, 2014.
The women can’t be identified due to a court ordered publication ban, despite one of the victims, the 16-year-old, already speaking out about the assault and becoming the face for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Monday, Justin James Hudson, 21, pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault while the attempted murder charged was stayed, likely to prevent the victims from going through a lengthy trial.
On that November day, Hudson says he and his 17-year old cousin, who can’t be named, set out with a goal to break into cars. It was the 17-year old’s birthday.
They later encountered the 16-year-old victim near the banks of the River and lured her under the Mid-town bridge where they began beating her and sexually assaulting her.
She was knocked unconscious while they continued their assault.
Hudson admits they stole the woman’s shoes, jacket and iPod and left her laying near the river.
The victim came to and tried escaping walking 100 metres in the freezing river. When she came out of the water, the attackers found her again and hit her on the head with a hammer knocking her out.
She was found at 7 a.m. by a passerby near death.
The second attack happened around 2:30 a.m. just west of the University of Winnipeg.
Hudson says they encountered a 20-year-old woman and stole her iPod and iPhone then hit her over the head twice with a bat, forcing her to commit sexual acts on them for the next couple hours.
Crown Prosecutor Debbie Buors said in court that one of the men said to the woman, “I like this one, let’s keep her for a while.” But Hudson doesn’t recall saying that.
They finally let the woman go, even giving her iPod back before returning home.
It was Hudson’s own sister who turned him into police after she and her mother became suspicious of him after he was bragging about the stolen iPhone and iPod.
But when Hudson’s mother questioned him about it, he replied, “Shut the f**k up or I’ll do to you what I did to that girl last night.”
Hudson’s sister called police but he fled. He was arrested a short time later and confessed to what happened and gave up his accomplice.
He’ll be sentenced in early February.
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